Jace slammed into the mat and lay there, staring at the ceiling. It was the tenth time this week he has fought his master, and the tenth time he had lost. It was infuriating, but there was nothing he could do, he was only eleven years old. He knew that his master was a prodigy of some sort, and that he was nowhere near as strong as he had been at the same age, but he still felt sad about it.
Even now it felt odd when he stood next to the other disciples of the teachers. They were all in their twenties and thirties and then his master was there, fifteen years old and dominating the room. There were even rumours that he was stronger than the grandmaster himself, but he could not believe that. The grandmaster had always seemed like some sort of unreachable paragon, an ideal rather than something truly attainable.
He sat up, looking around at the almost empty hall. The soft mat floors were a necessity in the Empty Throne school, because the core tenet of the school was that the entire body was a weapon. “Master your body and you will master your world”. That was what the grandmaster had always said. It seemed rather metaphysical to Jace, but his master had explained that it simply meant that if you could fully master your body then within your surroundings there would be nothing that could escape your notice. Within your reach you could become untouchable by normal means.
That was what Jace aimed for. He wanted to become an untouchable figure like all the masters were, and the quickest way seemed to be to learn the skills and martial forms that they taught. Unfortunately that took a long time, and a lot of effort. Not less than he was willing to put in, but just the basic forms for each of the ten martial arts that his master had taught him were enough to set his mind spinning.
Standing up again, he faced his master and bowed. His master raised an eyebrow, “again?” the older boy said.
“Yessir. I want to master myself,” Jace smiled confidently. “I don’t think I will be able to do it in the same time as you, but I think... I think I could attain that skill by the time I’m all grown”. He straightened the uniform he wore. It was a thin black costume with a white bar around the collar. Jace always hated that strip of white material. The bar was scratchy and tough, but it showed his rank. He had a special place in the school, as the direct student of one of the masters and the cloth bar was the visible representation of that, but it was so irritating on his skin.
“Good. I’m glad to see that my disciple has some aspirations above just being competent. Well I have some good and some bad news for you. Which would you prefer first?”
“I guess the good news,” Jace said.
“Well,” his master replied. “You are considered the disciple with the most potential so you are going be becoming a disciple of the grandmaster”. This shocked Jace. There were only ever ten disciples of the grandmaster, and they were all considered masters in their own right. His master had been one of the youngest ever, but in the two years that he had been taught by the older boy it seemed that Jace had been assessed as someone of a similar potential. He could not help but crack a slight smile when he heard the news. “The bad news is that I will no longer be teaching you. In fact, I will no longer be teaching inside the school at all. My friends and I are taking the plunge and pushing on past the tenth floor, so I will be leaving Spirit potentially for good”.
Jace was stunned. He knew that his master was the hardest one to work under, apparently even harder than working under the Grandmaster himself, but he did not feel like this was truly a reward. He was simply not ready to become a leading figure of the school. “Are you sure, master?”
“I spoke to master Alistair and he was the one who came up with the idea. You are the closest to attempting to create your own martial style, which is the key to become a master in the school, so you are the most deserving of the direct disciples to become a master. That said,” his master paused, “you are likely not ready to teach a student of your own, but you will be taking more of a leading role in the general classes for the students. Are you alright with that?”
“I...” Jace did not know what to say. It was simply too much of a reward for him to process.
“There is one more thing. I have a gift for you, as I will not be around to see you. The only problem with the gift is you must swear not to tell anyone about it. Not even the Grandmaster. It could put you in grave danger, and that would be unfortunate as you would not be able to succeed with the task I am going to set you. You will have two choices depending on how quickly you excel into Sainthood. You can either climb the tower, or you can become a powerhouse of the region”. He walked to the side of the room and took out a small unordained box. The box was thin and squat, but about thirty centimetres long. It was made of a wood that Jace could not identify. The box was beautiful in its simplicity. “In this box, there is what’s known as the Book of Creation. It was my prerogative to give it to who I think could propagate the Book itself. I chose you, but you are simply not strong enough to defend yourself from those who might want to take it from you as of yet. By the time you are a Saint I should have succeeded in my plan, so you will be able to reveal yourself at that point. If I have not yet succeeded, then wait until you are of Heaven rank. I believe you can make it there, and that you have a long future ahead of you, so do not squander it”.
“Thank you master,” Jace replied. “I do have to ask though, what is your plan?”
“Simple, I’m going to revive the Hephaistia clan”.
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