Eighteen

Yesh Academy

Luna Gaea Solar system

Milky way Galaxy, Charlie Quadrant

Neutral free Zone

January 30th 2019

 A boy of ten watched as his master put a sword in his hand. He was dressed in a simple, black seamed garment, which felt a little heavy for a boy his age, but the kimono fitted him, signifying the boy as a disciple of the Io sword art sect. There were little cuts and gashes on the boy's body, his breathing was drawn out from exhaustion, but the boy didn't show it on his face. Instead, his blue eyes were on the enemy he had defeated. A red ogre mask was on the floor, his assailant was tied up, bound with Od binding chains. They were in a large room with some fellow students watching while the sect's Elders sat on the mats. Across the room, behind the boy was a woman watching everything. Her eyes were luminous blue like the boy, and her long golden brown hair was braided in a long ponytail. Her face was extremely stoic, with no sign of fear or concern that her son was nearly killed.

"This will be your final training," The Master said. "Can you do it, Disciple Leon," The boy felt the sword's weight in his hand. The thrill of the battle he had with his would-be assassin was gone, leaving behind an emptiness that the boy couldn't describe. He pulled the blade out of its scabbard, silver light emitting out of the Seriphium sword. He then turned around to look at the woman. She had gotten closer, standing not far from him.

"What do we do to our enemy, who threatens our family," His mother said. Her voice was cold, the only sign of emotion that she displayed. The boy held the sword tightly, her words igniting memories within him.

"We eliminate them, root and stem," the boy whispered. There was a flash of light, a spurt of blood floating in the air, and then a head landed on the-

Blaarghh! Blaarghh!

Leon's body spasms with intense pain, blood dripping from his lower lips, as he struggles towards his drawers away from his bathroom. He opened the drawer and took out his flask, shakenly pushing the flask to his mouth. He struggled to take a sip of the beverage, as more pain from his gut struck him. When he drank it, his throat that was burning up began to heat more, his desire for the liquid made him drink more of it. After a while, he slumped against his bed, his chest heaving up and down. Sweat beaded down his forehead, his eyesight coming back into focus. His mind went back to the dream he had woken up from in pain, the memory of his childhood. He hadn't thought much of it in a long time. Meeting Samantha had made him begin to think of his Mother and his childhood....No! He shook his head as he didn't want to go there. He took out the coin Vuelo had given him. The coin that had put him on the path to meeting Sam. That wench. She purposely gave it to him knowing what it would do. But why would she want him to meet Sam? What was the purpose? Leon knew Sam was no ordinary girl. He had seen the Celestial mark on her and he had been unable to recognize it. it didn't look like any Celestial mark of any of the Houses that Leon knew. That alone was enough for Leon to suspect if she was even a Pleiadian. Out of the nine races in the universe, the Star folks were the only ones capable of awakening both Celestial blood and Gratia-the divine grace that marked them as an Awakened Mystic. It was the reason why the Pleiadians were the major race and almost always had the ruling power. None of the other races were capable of it. And the few outside the Pleiadians who awakened were very few. Like 0.001 of the Universe population. And even then, they were not as powerful as the Pleiadians who descended from the House of Celestials. Leon thought of the history of how the Twelve Houses had come into existence. There were originally twelve Lumasis who had been chosen by the gods, to protect and rid the physical realms of the scourges known as Abominations. The Twelve Warriors would later settle on Agartha and create a civilization for themselves. And birth the Twelve House of Celestials among the Pleiadians. And standing above all this houses, were the gods who were assigned as their household god. Even the seal that marked Awakened Pleiadians belonged to the gods. Though Leon wasn't as religious say like Emily, he knew most of the sacred texts of the Annunaki. And he had memorized all the Celestial seals that existed. But he didn't recognize the seal that marked Sam. Which then bought his attention to Adonis and Phoebe. They didn't seem surprised to realize the anomaly nor did they even bring it up. From what Leon could tell, they'd been aware of Sam's existence for a long time, and only now did they attempt to bring her fully into their fold. Leon sighed as he took more sips of his drink and then put on a T-shirt. He had no idea what was going to happen. All he knew was that he was running out of time, time that he didn't have.

****

The Sun was finally rising, the sound of whistling from the birds echoed around the forest behind the Academy. Leon was on the roof having witnessed the entire sequence of training Emanu had done with Sam. He had suppressed his presence completely so Sam wouldn't notice his spying on them. His appearance was different from how it had been not so long ago. He was back to looking healthy, with no sign of pain or fatigue on his face. Instead, he had on his usual smirk. From what he had seen, he could guess as to what Phoebe planned on doing with Sam. Make her take lessons and then prepare her to become a Guardian. It would be the best plan for Sam. Even though she was an Awakened one, she did not belong to the Federation, as such she could not become a Paladin. Protecting Terra by being a guardian would be the best way to put her ability to use. But Leon knew there was something more going on. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see Emily coming out of the entrance to the Northern tower's roof.

"There you are," Emily said. "Phoebe said I should tell you that your vacation is over. You should start doing what she pays you..." Emily paused as she saw Emanu leading Sam out of the forest. "What's going on"

"Just a little lesson," Leon said. He got up from the edge of the roof where he had been sitting. He dusted the back side of his pants and smiled at Emily.

"I still can't believe that we've been put in charge of these Terran kids," Leon said.

"They're not much older than us," Emily said. "And besides teaching was part of the deal for staying here rent free. Not all of us have a rich family to fall back on." Emily was not a member of a Named family like Leon nor was she a part of the Noblesse. Her background was that of a common Pleiadian from Olympia, who happened to awaken. That allowed her to become a Paladin. If not for that, she would never have left Olympia.

"You know full well that my Mom has forbidden me to touch the Haravok fortunes," Leon said. "She's trying to teach me some kind of lesson." He snorted. It had been a while since he had spoken to his Mother. The last time they had seen each other, things hadn't gone well. Their relationship was strainer than it had ever been before.

"So how is she?" Emily said. "Have you figured out what she is?" Even Emily knew that there was something weird about Sam.

"Adonis called her a Sinclair. I only know of one family in the Federation with the family name of Sinclair," Leon said. He thought of Joanna Sinclair, the Grand Admiral of Starlight Order. She was the leader of the military branch of the Order and the head commander of all Paladins. During the uprising, she had made a name for herself, and after two years of acting as an Interim, she had been granted the position full-time. The Sinclair family was a Named family, and although they were named, for the past five centuries they had been quiet. Joanna was the first one in a while to achieve something so great. Leon also knew that Joanna had an older brother who had gone missing with his family during the uprising. James Sinclair. He was once a friend of his Father also. As much as Leon wanted to claim that Sam wasn't a Pleiadian, there was physical proof that showed she was. If her Father was the same James Sinclair, then it would explain why she had been able to awaken. It was in her blood.

"She doesn't look like a Sinclair," Emily said. Leon raised an eyebrow. "I don't mean her appearance. I meant the Celestial seal that comes with being an Awakened. If she was a Sinclair, she would belong to the House of Taurus like the Grand Admiral. But she doesn't belong to any of the Twelve houses. Surely you noticed it too."

"Doesn't matter. Stressing about things we don't understand isn't good for the soul," Leon said. He was silent for a while, his mind thinking of so many things. After a while, he came up with a conclusion.

"I was thinking about the Erlking," Leon said. "Maybe there was a reason he was Infected with Infernal energy when we found him. The information that I received spoke of the Erlking having information that could be important to me. But by the time we got to him, he was already infected with Infernal energy. What if they knew we were coming for him, so they infected him to mess with his memory?"

"Why would they turn the Erlking into an abomination just to get rid of a leak," Emily said. "Why not just kill him outright."

"True. But what if they wanted to also get rid of whoever was after the intel the Erlking possessed?" Leon said.

"The Infernal energy was close to frying its brain. But somehow the Erlking resisted its corrosiveness and was close to becoming a Greater Beast." Emily said. The erlking that Leon had killed had become a Beast that only cared for its hunger, to the point that it had been attacking humans. From investigating the site where the humans were disappearing, Leon and Emily had found the Monster. Their fight also played a part in the Beast regaining its cognitive function at the end of its life. Sadly Leon had killed it before it could evolve and become a Greater one. "Whoever planned that, didn't account for the Erlking's strong will,"

"Or maybe they did and they just didn't care. I have a feeling that whoever made that breach in Dr. Dingle's office might be responsible for the Erlking's transformation". Leon summarised.

"And you think all this is related to Sam?" Emily asked. 

"Who knows," Leon said. "All I can tell you is that the girl is about to become the center of whatever events is about to happen in Terra,"

****

The shimmering runes hung in the peripheral vision of Sam's left eye, glowing like a neon sign. After her training with Emanu, after Sam had freshened up, the runes had appeared. The same runes she had seen in her Soul Realm were now appearing in the physical world. Sam's first thought was that she was seeing things but then she remembered where she was. So she took the runes seriously. She couldn't read the language at first, but the more she began to stare at it, her mind began to translate the words like they were something she had always known. And now the words had become plain in English. Damn it. Why was her life getting complicated? She had met with Phoebe not long ago, and she had confirmed to Sam that she would begin her classes as a student of Yesh Academy. Luckily for Sam, it was still the beginning of the semester for the first year. It seems like the first years were divided into two groups. The ones who began their semester last year, and the ones who would begin their semester this new year. Sam was the latter. So Phoebe was able to squeeze Sam into the Attendance. So now Sam was in her first class attending Yesh Academy. And her first class happened to be Combat art training. She was in the Northern tower in a large gym facility with state-of-the-art equipment used for training and practice. The gym was 4000 square meters in floor size. It was also divided into sections for the years a student belonged to. Sam was with her new classmates in the section reserved for the first year. Luckily for Sam, she saw some familiar faces. Callum and Trynr. Unfortunately for Sam, it seems Trynr the half-fox girl still had some issues with her. She frowned when Sam had gone over to her and Callum. Callum had been inviting, giving her the usual grin he always wore. He was cool and very nice to talk to. Though Sam didn't do much talking. She listened to him as he explained how he was supposed to have started his Guardian training, the year before, but some family issues had forced him to postpone. She wasn't fully paying attention to him as she was distracted by the runes.

Due to the soul's Enlightenment, the Gaea System has awakened. Enlightened one has been invited to access the System. Do you accept?

Gaea system? Enlightened one? What the hell? While Callum was speaking, Sam was working her brain to figure out what the hell she was seeing. Invitation to access system. What system? Goddamnit. Sam was well knowledgeable about fantasy series so she knew about series with stuff like she was seeing. But to think that it was happening to her. Fine. Let's see what this system is. Before she could say anything or think anything, a new set of runes appeared. The word automatically changed to English.

Enlightened has accepted the invitation to the system.

Wait, what? Did it read my mind? The entire class got quiet as Sam sensed the presence of someone who just entered the room. Leon's eyes fell on Sam who was in the middle of the students. She was dressed in a white tracksuit like the others and seemed to be talking with a dark-skinned guy. Leon frowned. Though the boy was talking to her, her face looked distracted. But then her eyes met his. And it was like everybody else disappeared. Leon was struck again by how familiar she felt to him. This was the girl he had been dreaming of for ages. And now she was in the same space with him, and he was forced to be her instructor. Fate really can be a bitch. Leon cleared his throat and all the students went quiet.

There were twelve students in front of him, most of whom were Demi humans- a subspecies between the other eight races and humans. Alongside the eight of them, were three humans, and then Sam. Leon had seen how they had eyed Sam, the rumor about the Star-princess had spread around the Academy. Leon couldn't help but chuckle at the Star-princess bit. He was sure that Sam would not be fond of it. Sam was also aware of the rumors as it was something that had greeted her when she went in for breakfast. Henry had told her about the rumors and Sam couldn't help but feel anxious about it. 

"So today we will begin the lesson..." Leon was interrupted by a raised hand. It was a Demi-human girl. She had short pointed hair with a little bit of pale skin which marked her as half-Fae and half-human. She also had brown hair with a little bit of goat horns on her forehead.

"Excuse me, Professor," the girl said. She was blushing with a smile on her face as Leon's eyes landed on her. "But is it true that you slayed a Hodag that tried to eat through a planet's core," Leon smiled. A Hodag was a dangerous Odic Beast that was known for their habitual feeding on a planet's core. If left alone, they could consume a planet's core destroying the planet. The Hodag Leon had slain on the planet of Corcia had been an average one who hadn't fed on the planet yet. Leon had killed it before it had the chance to during one of his many travels around the Neutral Free zones, and stories about his exploit had traveled around. The Corcian inhabitant had spread the word about his deeds with exaggerated parts about him killing a full-grown fed Hodag like it was nothing. And Leon hadn't bothered to correct the exaggeration. Killing the beast had been troublesome, and Leon appreciated the fame that came with it.

"Something like that," Leon said coolly. He pushed aside a strand of his golden hair that covered his right eye and at the same time, some of the girls in the class began swooning. Sam noticed this and though a big part of her wanted to swoon with them, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at them. Yes, though they were young (Sam was the oldest at nineteen going on twenty) and their hormones and emotions were on the rise due to Leon's presence, She couldn't help but cringe at their actions. Their emotions were filling up Sam's mind but due to her increased control over her Internal senses, Sam could handle it. Though she still wasn't fond of being able to feel it. 

"So today we will begin by choosing what type of weapons we would like to train with," Leon said. This was combat training, and as their instructor, It was Leon's duty to help them train their martial arts. Martial arts was divided into two types of combat. Weapon arts and Body art. Most warriors fought with the use of weapons, and though fighting unarmed was common, the use of weapons in battle made fighting easier. Even Leon preferred a weapon in his hand. He walked over to the weapon storage wall. He activated the system, and the wall opened with two vertical sliding doors. Inside were shelves of various weapons forged with Adamant steel. Leon beckoned the students to enter inside. "Combat art also referred to as Martial arts by human standards, is a discipline that trains and develops the body, mind, and soul into becoming one with the Odyllic." Leon searched the faces of the twelve students. He was bored talking about things he had learned when he was young. He resisted the urge to yawn and instead pointed at the lanky dark-skinned guy besides Sam.

"You, there. How many types of art can Martial art be divided into," He said as he leaned his body on the edge of the entrance.

"Two, sir. Weapons art and Body art." Callum said.

"Good. So now you know why you'll be selecting your weapons," Leon said. He looked at his wrist tablet. "According to the school, some of you are already trained in a specific art so just pick up the weapon you're used to while the rest of you decide on one." Sam walked through a row of weapons. She was in front of a row of swords. There were various types of swords in there. A dagger, a shortsword, longswords. and even swords that looked like katanas. Callum chose two shortswords, twirling them like he was used to it. She also saw Trynr holding what looked to be a staff. Sam moved away from the sword, not feeling it. She didn't want to be a swordsman, definitely not a Polearm, so she stayed away from the Polearm section. She browsed through the Bow section. She could practice archery. That way she could fight from a distance. But something made Sam change her mind as soon as that thought came into place. She kept on searching as most of her classmates had already chosen their weapons. Sam finally landed on a row of shields. She didn't think of herself as a tanker, or one who preferred to be on the defense. So why was she...She stopped walking. She retraced her step going back to what she had nearly missed. It was a silver-grey vambrace shield with green runes engraved on it. Sam felt the power imbued within the item. It called to her. She picked it up and wore it in both her hands.

"An extendable shield," Leon said. He was in front of her, behind the shelves of weapons. He was analyzing the two-handed shield that Sam had chosen. It was a type of shield that could collapse itself and become a gauntlet, a weapon meant for punching. The points of the shield were incredibly sharp serving as a great offensive weapon too. The runes on the shield served as conduits for Odic energy which can then activate the arcane power within it. It was a diamond-rank artifact. It was a nice weapon for a beginner. It seemed Sam had decided to learn about body type Martial arts. 

"Alright, let's get out of here," Leon said. Every single student walked out of the storage and Leon closed it after Sam was the last to come out. "Now then, if you can take a look at your zodiak, the school has given each of you a Martial manual to master." During Sam's meeting with Phoebe, she had been given a few items that were supposed to help with her classes. They were a wristband and a tablet that was a communication device. The wristband was an inventory device that could store items through dimensional magic, and the tablet was called a Zodiak. Sam watched as the students each pressed their wristband summoning up their Zodiaks. She did the same thing, and a black thin tablet appeared in a particle of white light. As she switched it on, Sam was surprised to see that there was a holographic interface imbued also in the device. She summoned the manual that the Academy had given them.

"As you well know, a martial manual is a book enchanted with instructions on how to perform the martial arts. The school has given you guys a three-star rank manual to learn. So if you can, please begin the assimilation of the art. I'll walk around and give out pointers to those who need it." Sam was excited to learn what kind of martial arts she was going to learn. She was a big fan of action fantasy with martial elements to it, and now she was about to experience it. She saw the title of the manual that was given to her.

Jet Stream style: A basic martial art that relies on choreographed movements. Each of the techniques is performed in a smooth-flowing sequence that combines piercing strikes, kicks, and grappling. It can also be utilized with various weapons that allow for slashing and cutting. There are five techniques involved within- As Sam was reading the text, a stream of runes appeared in her central vision blaring a warning sign to her.

 Enlightened has already been initiated with Martial arts more suitable to her constitution. Enlightened has been granted the right to unlock Martial arts.

What the hell? Sam was beginning to get tired of being surprised by herself. So the system or whatever it's called already had a martial arts for her. Sam froze as the color around her changed from being bright to a monotone grey color. She turned to Callum but the boy was frozen. Every single student was frozen including Leon. It was like time had frozen. Sam was the only one who could move. A new set of runes appeared.

Enlightened must enter portal to unlock the Martial arts.

And then a huge green door with Sam's Celestial seal appeared. Sam was perplexed as to what was going on. But she decided that asking questions could be done later. Instead, it was best to see what was on the other side. Her hand went to the knob on the door, twisting the handle, and was about to open it when a hand grabbed hers. She squealed, shocked to see Leon by her side.

"What do you think you're doing," He said.

"You can.." But Sam was interrupted by the opening of the door as a black vortex of energy pulled Sam and Leon into the portal.