It was crazy how silent the area was. There were over three hundred power users crowded together, and there wasn’t so much as a whisper. Standing on a newly built platform was Dorvan, who had both his arms behind his back, looking forward. Around him were twenty-nine other students, all in a similar pose to him. To his left was Aurora and to his right was Lewis.

  Today was a grand day. A day for the history books, assuming anyone ever heard of the School of Power. Standing at the very front was King Talon Astero. His back was facing the thirty students, and he was about to address the entire crowd.

  Talon was dressed in a fine red and black coat, and his crown shined brightly as sunlight touched it. The power was swirling around the king, and then he began to speak.

  “Welcome to this historic day,” Talon began, his voice amplified with the power so all of the students could hear. “I meant to do this weeks ago, but things got in the way that delayed this moment. Today, thirty of you are being promoted to Ashtari, the first in centuries. The students chosen are the best among you and will be the first of many Ashtari. They will be our first line of defense in the war to come.”

  If the king was expecting applause, he would be disappointed as none of the students so much as uttered a word. Qidan had trained them to listen when he or Talon spoke. Despite the silence, there was no missing excitement in the air. Some of the students looked at the newly appointed Ashtari with jealousy, others with excitement as they waited for their turn.

  Talon reached into his pocket and took out something small. Dorvan squinted and noticed it was a pin with a sword on fire. “This pin will show who is an Ashtari, for each Ashtari will have this on their chest. In time, I plan to have students wearing a different pin, but for now, this is what we’ve got.”

  The king turned to the thirty students and walked to each of them, placing the pin on each chest himself. Dorvan was surprised to find himself nervous as Talon got closer and closer to him. All his training and he was getting anxious about a stupid pin? Thankfully, he was able to maintain a neutral expression when Talon arrived at him and placed the pin on his chest.

  “Congratulations,” Talon said before moving on to the next and said the same to Aurora.

  Once Talon placed the last pin, he returned to the front. “The future is coming. You have to hide who you are for a little while longer. Before you know it, the entire world will know of you,” he said. “That is all I have come to say. I look forward to seeing you all become Ashtari.”

  Talon stepped away, and the students began talking to one another while rushing to their assigned training. Talon smiled and turned his attention back to the promoted Ashtari. “You will all be in charge until Qidan returns. Keep training and grow strong,” he said.

  “Yes, sir,” the Ashtari said at once.

  Satisfied, Talon created a portal and left the School of Power. The Ashtari began talking excitedly among themselves. Dorvan went to talk with Aurora and was surprised to see a look of disappointment on her face.

  “What’s the matter?” Dorvan asked.

  A smile spread across her face as if her earlier worries never existed. “Nothing. I’m just thinking about how this is only the beginning,” Aurora said.

  “That it is,” Lewis said. “To think we would be the first Ashtari!”

  “I figured you’d be in the next group,” Dorvan teased.

  Aurora’s smile faltered slightly. “You get it, right? We’re going to be used as weapons in a war, something that hasn’t happened since the War of Power.”

  “You’re not wrong,” Dorvan said. It was something he thought about more than he would like to admit. Fighting normal people would be easy, but the invaders would have power users, of that he was certain. What was it like to fight to the death with another power user? Sparring could only prepare you so much. “I say we celebrate and worry about the war later.”

  “How do you want to celebrate?” Aurora said, leaning on Dorvan and smiling mischievously.

  “By doing the one thing we haven’t done in some time,” Dorvan said, and the others looked at him knowingly. “We drink and enjoy ourselves for a change.”

  “Wrong,” Dorvan said, shaking his head at one of the students' attempts to destroy a rock with the power. “Jalorn, you need to focus the power at the center of the rock and unleash the buildup. That’ll cause the rock to explode.”

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  “I’m trying,” Jalorn said with frustration, kicking the ground. “It’s not easy!”

  A young lad, who joined a few days ago, not long after Dorvan was promoted to Ashtari, couldn’t be older than twenty years old but had known how to gather the power. “It’ll get easier. Keep calm or you’ll continue to fail,” Dorvan said.

  Jalorn took a couple of deep breaths and stared at the rock. Dorvan felt the power swirl around Jalorn, and then the rock exploded. “Well done,” Dorvan said. “Don’t stop until you destroy three rocks in a row.”

  The young man paled. “Three?” he said.

  “You heard me,” Dorvan said sternly. He made sure the students did the same training he had. He glanced over at Aurora, who was helping a couple of students gather the power. She was laughing at something, then pointed at one of the students, who joined in on the laughter.

  Suddenly, Aurora grew serious and looked to her right. Dorvan looked in the same area and saw nothing. Then, he felt a swirl of power, and a portal appeared. How does she sense that before anyone else? Dorvan wondered. He had asked her before, and she said she didn’t know.

  Dorvan tensed when he realized more than one power user was coming through the portal. He recognized Qidan but not the thirty-one people who came in after him.

  “Those are some powerful people,” Aurora said, almost causing Dorvan to jump.

  When did she get next to me? Dorvan looked back at Qidan, who looked at ease. “I can only sense a few of them,” he said.

  “I can sense them all,” Aurora replied.

  Before Dorvan could respond, Qidan began speaking. “I need everyone to gather around. I have some important information.”

  Dorvan and Aurora sent all the students to get everyone. “It’s nice to give orders for a change,” Dorvan said. It would be a few minutes until everyone was gathered, and Qidan was waiting patiently.

  “Talon must be serious if he’s resorting to this,” Aurora said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know where they came from, but those power users are here to help teach. I’m sure of it,” Aurora said.

  “They’re that strong?”

  “Yes.”

  Where did Qidan find a large group of power users? How did the mages not know? Was there another secret group like the School of Power? Dorvan knew better than to ask the mage, but the question lingered in his mind.

  “We’ve been pushing ourselves so hard. It’ll be nice to lessen the load,” Dorvan said.

  “I doubt we’ll have time to slack off,” Aurora said. “With new teachers, more of us can search for people with the power and expand at a much faster pace. We might match Mortham Tower in the next few months at this rate.”

  That’ll reveal Talon’s true intentions. Despite Dorvan’s belief that Talon wanted to use them against the invaders, a small part of him worried that the king would tell them to attack Mortham Tower. Despite the lack of training, there was no way the mages would be prepared for hundreds of Ashtari invading them without warning. It would be the only chance they had to defeat them, though he suspected casualties would be high regardless.

  The Ashtari and students were all gathered, and Qidan began to speak. “I want to get this out of the way,” Qidan began, his voice amplified so everyone could hear. “We have thirty-one new teachers. I know I missed the promotion of our first thirty Ashtari. The people I brought with me will also be Ashtari, making our number sixty-one Ashtari instead of thirty. Starting tomorrow, there will be more teachers to help train.”

  “This is very helpful,” Aurora whispered. “I don’t know where these people came from, but this was needed.”

  “Is this a good thing?” Dorvan whispered back.

  “Of course, it is. Why do you think it’s not?” Aurora shot back.

  “I don’t know. Things are going so fast; I’m worried we’ll be used to attack another nation.”

  “This is very good. Don’t forget, Mortham Tower would arrest us all if they knew about us. This helps even the playing field,” Aurora said.

  Aurora’s tone of voice caught him off guard. Dorvan made a mental note to ask her why she didn’t like the mages.

  “That will be all. Get back to your duties,” Qidan said.

  Dorvan and Aurora started to walk off. “Hold up, you two,” Qidan said.

  They both stopped and turned toward Qidan. The rest of the students didn’t break stride and were quickly dispersed to their various activities. The newcomers were led by another Ashtari, Murissa, toward the temple.

  “I have a mission for you,” Qidan said.

  “So soon?” Dorvan asked.

  “That’s the price of being promoted,” Qidan said dryly.

  “What do you want us to do?” Aurora asked, her eyes glinting with excitement.

  “I need you two to start recruiting in remote towns and bring as many students as you can.”

  The excitement extinguished from Aurora’s face. “Will the other Ashtari be going on missions like this?”

  “Yes, Talon is worried Mortham Tower will discover this place,” Qidan said and sighed. “Something big is going on, and I agree with the king. We need more power users. Whatever’s about to happen will change everything.”

  “Is Talon plotting a move against the mages?” Dorvan asked.

  “Of course not,” Qidan scoffed. “The last thing Talon wants to do is go to war with Mortham Tower.”

  Would Qidan tell me the truth if Talon was planning something? Dorvan didn’t know, but he had to trust Qidan. Surely the former mage didn’t want a war with Mortham Tower. He found himself wondering what he would have done if Qidan had said they were going to attack Mortham Tower.

  “You are still far from masters. You will keep up your training in between recruitment,” Qidan said.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Aurora said.

  “Good,” Qidan reached into his pocket and threw a small bag of coins to Dorvan. “You should leave now. Try to be discreet and make sure nobody sees you create a portal, understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” Dorvan said.

  Nodding, Qidan walked toward a couple of other Ashtari. Suddenly, a portal appeared in front of Aurora. “What are you doing?” Dorvan asked.

  Aurora looked at him with confusion. “Qidan told us to leave now. You coming or what?”

  Shaking his head, Dorvan silently laughed and stepped through the portal.