Prophecy of the Nexus

Chapter 9

My leg was a little stiff for the next few days. Sir Atticus didn't run too many exercises while it was still a little shaky. Instead, he focused on teaching me everything an Arknight should know. Some of it was straight out of the angelic studies textbook back at school. It was more like admin, explaining the different temples, the hierarchy, and the Origin of the Aurelia, the City of Light. But then there was the stuff most students would pay to study. Demon studies involved learning the variety of demons you could encounter. I knew there were seven classifications, but I never would have guessed that there were variations in those classifications. It was also an opportunity to learn about the more exotic demons that were rare in Britannia now. I shivered at the images of devourers and specters, monsters that not even my deepest nightmares could unleash. Learning their weakness and strengths were just as important in hunting them down as maintaining the peace.

I had no idea how deep the Arknight network reached within the city. Of course, when said out loud, it was obvious the Arknights had a good survey of the Londinium and had fast response teams everywhere. They were all still preparing for the next demon siege.

Learning all this new information was great. What was less fun was outside the classroom. My catastrophic attempt at the Angelway had spread round the base like wildfire. Even the cooks seemed to know how badly I had done. They would glance at me and hide their sniggers as I walked away. But, by far the worst were Virgil and his gang. He didn't say anything, after all we were supposed to be on the same team, but the look in his eyes told me he couldn't have ask for a better outcome. I almost wish he could come out and just say it rather than turning to his friends and making them chuckle at my expense.

"I mean, you didn't actually do that badly," Lex pointed out at lunch one day. "You passed half the challenges."

"It was just the collapsing in the mud that didn't appear graceful," Travis added. That comment got him a whack on the arm from Jesse.

"What were those challenges though?" I said. "Why were they so twisted? Like, I heard your voice crying out for help."

"That was there to test your soul," Marcus explained. He put down his food and put up three fingers. "The Angelway has three aspects to it: physical, mental, and soul. You did the physical by climbing the ropes," he counted one off his fingers. "Then you had to mentally strong to get through the mist, and then they tested your soul by seeing if you would pick the easy way out or to help a friend. If you had gone the other way, you would have ended up in brambles."

I sat back, considering this strange explanation. The way Marcus said it made it sound like this was totally normal. But I had to keep reminding myself we weren't somewhere normal. "But why?" I asked again.

Everyone became a little more stiff at these words. Marcus and Lex shared a look. "We are going to fight demons one day," Marcus said. "And that means fighting corruption."

"And blessing that test us is the best training we can get," Lex continued. There was an odd silence after these comments. It was a little reminder of what we were expected to fight. For a split second, I wasn't surrounded by the best of the best. Instead, I was surrounded by five teenagers who realised they might not live past thirty.