Mar 24, 2016

We are over halfway through the pre-order window but still have a long way to go if The Girl Who Blinks has any chance to meet even the Quill goal. Despite this and the difficulties I’ve had in marketing I still have faith we can meet our goals through your support. Keep spreading the word, and if you have any ideas on how I can attract more readers, please don’t hesitate to share. 

While I wait for some more promotional art to come through I thought I might share with you another glimpse into the The Girl Who Blinks’ universe. This time you get to see part of what it takes to be a mage studying at the Academy, and Although Lwoj Janus won’t make a direct appearance in this part of Adora’s story he is definitely someone you should pay attention to in the future.

                                                                   A Test of Blades

The class of Council Academy mage hopefuls marched through the metal sliding door into the stark room students called the Crash Room. The massive metal walls, floor, and ceiling were dark and cold except for the sigils and runes carved with no visible pattern aside from the gouges that formed a grid on all visible surfaces. The dull light pulsing from the carvings cast waves of color on the adepts and the traditional red training robes of their discipline. Each student carried a translucent practice weapon in a variety of styles; mostly swords, but there was an occasional crystalline axe or spear.

Waiting for the the students to file in was the small wisened man who served as the Void Stepper, the academy’s master of arms. Unlike most of the other instructors, the Void Stepper’s skin was devoid of any magical markings. When they first arrived and met the black clothed man students would scoff at the idea of learning from the ungifted. That attitude quickly diminished once they attended a sparring session.

“Adepts, you are here today because the Academy has identified you as possible Ship Worthies. You have a rare talent they hope to mold into one of the most elite and sought after order of magi to come out of this esteemed institute. Today you will face the first of many obstacles that could bar you from those ranks.”

The old man paused for a moment, shifting his weight. A wave of muttering briefly flowed through the students. No one had told them that there would be a test. He silenced them with a swift motion of his head.

“Up to this point your sessions with me have been more about being able to utilize your gifts under duress than they have been about your actual prowess. Today, however, you will be called upon to defend yourself without magic.

“The Void is a dangerous place. One stray bullet from a gun can be disastrous on even the larger ships you may serve on. Imagine what a bolt of plasma could do by comparison. The black depths would gladly swallow anyone foolish enough to make such mistakes. To progress further you must prove that you have mastered that which is most difficult to tame, your own instincts. Step forward, Adept Lwoj!”

The sound of the Void Stepper’s voice calling his name forced Janus from the nightmare of spiraling into the depths of space back to the somehow colder reality of the training hall. Lwoj Janus stepped forward, pausing for a moment to brush his black bangs from his eyes and gripping the short straight polycarbonate sparring blade in his sweat soaked hand. The metal floor chilled his feet as he fought in vain the impulse to adjust his training robes.

The other Academy students stepped back. Janus did need to look to know the eagerness in their eyes  to see the young prodigy fail. They were hungry for the beating he was about to receive at the hands of their teacher. Once he was directly across from Void Stepper Rinaldi, Janus assumed a ready stance. The clear material of the blade refracted the light from the floor into a spectrum of colors across his crimson robes.

“The test is simple. You must bring me down with only the blade you have brought with you or your own hands. Do you understand, adept?”

“Yes, Void Stepper,” Janus replied with a quick nod that did little to convey his doubts about success.

The old man didn’t wait a moment longer before lunging forward at the boy with the thin wicked weapon in his hands. Janus thanked the stars he had held his stance but had no choice other than to fall back on the defensive. Three quick exchanges happened in a matter of moments, and it was all Janus could do to keep himself from being skewered by his instructor.

Janus attempted to go on the offensive with a feint and a lunge. The Void Stepper didn’t fall for the misdirection and leapt away toward the nearby wall. Janus was already in motion to kick out his teacher’s legs, but the swordsman failed to oblige. Instead, he landed on the wall thanks to the magic gravity of the sigils. With a flourish he beckoned Janus to try again. The adept cursed under his breath before leaping up to join him on the wall.

Another series of exchanges brought Janus and the Void Stepper further up the wall, with little success coming from the Adept’s efforts to attack. Rinaldi rushed forward again, parrying Janus’s poor attempts at a counter. He slid in under the boy’s guard as he pushed their blades up and away. A bony shoulder crashed into Janus’s sternum like a battering ram, launching him from his feet. Janus waited for his head to crash back to the metal floor.

The crash never came. Rinaldi pressed a button hidden in the pommel of his sword, and the glow of the runes faded. The magical gravity field that had kept them confined to the floor vanished. The other students gasped at the sudden darkness before floodlights at the eight corners of the Crash Room replaced the arcane light. In that moment of darkness segments of the floor, walls, and ceiling had floated out free from gravity. A small field of cubes spun before Janus’s eyes.

“I was sincerely hoping for a better showing from you.”

The floating cubes of metal reflected the Void Stepper’s voice in odd directions. Janus couldn’t tell from what direction his teacher’s next attack would come, but he knew he couldn’t float around waiting for that to happen. The adept pushed off of the nearest block and rocketed toward what he hoped was the sword master’s hiding spot. The sudden sight of Renaldi coming in at an angle down and to the left quickly dashed those hopes.

Janus lashed out with his hand at a nearby cube to change his course, barely dodging a swipe from the old man’s blade. Janus kicked out at his hoping to knock the sword from his grasp but instead was almost grabbed for his troubles. Rinaldi used the momentum from his failed swing to corkscrew and twist into a position where he could push off in pursuit of his prey.

The two fighters were comets ricocheting from cube to cube. Janus twisted and dodged more than a few of his pursuer’s strokes through a combination of blind luck and some prompting from his classmates’ gasps. Rinaldi had also managed to deliver more than a small number of stinging blows through. There was no way Janus could keep the evasion up for much longer.

In desperation, Janus tumbled forward toward an approaching chunk of metal and pushed himself back directly at the Void Stepper in the hope of surprising him. There was a brief moment of satisfaction at the look of surprise in the instructor’s eyes. Unfortunately it lasted only for a second before his shifted his body and caught Janus’ blade between his arm and his side. A fleeting triumph turned to despair as Rinaldi’s blade flew home.

The urge to call up the magic he could feel around him was staggering. Reflexes trained into him by the Academy up to this point started the fingers on his left hand through the forms that would wrap him in a shield of shimmering light. Before the spellwork could bear fruit Janus came to his senses, shifting his arm to catch the blow.

The pain was excruciating as bone shattered under the force of the strike. Janus let go of his own sword still trapped by Rinaldi to grab at the clear blade that had just broken his arm. His fingers wrapped around it just above where the Void Stepper gripped it. There was a click, and the runes flared with light again. As the two plummeted back to the ground, Janus pulled the surprised instructor into a visious headbut that filled the room with a dull thud.

The magic woven into the floor that provided gravity also cushioned their fall. Janus landed on his back with the dazed Void Stepper landing on his feet just above him. With the weight of gravity pressing on his again the adept’s shattered wrist throbbed in pain again. A few snickers comments came from the class.

“I knew he was going to finally screw something up.”

Janus didn’t see which girl had said it, but Rinaldi came to his senses and whirled on the class, point with his blade at the speaker as he did so.

“I suspect that will not be the first time you are wrong today. The task was to bring me down without magic, and here I am back on the ground without a spell being worked. He showed more than a small amount of control when he elected to take the blow from my strike instead of shielding himself. While Adept Wjol heads to the infirmary, I think it’s time we see how well you fare, Adept Tanzer.”

Janus tried not to smile when he heard the girl who had spoken out gasp in surprise. The pulsing pain helped with his efforts.