40.0
The Adventures of Mary
Chapter 1
The classroom looked to be full. Perhaps ten students with as many shiny desks were scattered through the room. A clock ticked on the wall, the smell of floor polish was ripe in the air, and the sound of nine people chatting bounced off the poster plastered wall and reflected onto the many hard surfaces and the hard angles of the classroom. Everything in the room was carefully maintained and exactingly clean and orderly; the rows of new appearing desks were perfect lines, the posters were hung at carefully planned angles, and the teachers desk at the front of the room had nary a page out of place. The teacher himself stood at the chalkboard, carefully cleaning the chalkboard from the history lesson of the day. The clock continued to tick, a subltle undercurrent of sound weaving through the chatter of the students and swish, swish of the eraser moving against the chalkboard. One girl, short but not fat, bold-faced yet with eyes fixed on the ground, contributed nothing to the soundscape of the room. She sat so still, so quietly, that she achieved near perfect synchronicity with the objects around her. Nobody saw her in the same way that nobody sees the light fixtures in the ceiling; they are there, they give off light, if they are not on you would remember to hurry over to the light switch and flip it on, but all things that occur in the back of your mind as you lend your attention to more important tasks. So this girl was, sitting with her back straight and her head down. Her dark hair was short, easy to keep out of the way of whatever it was she was doing. She was dressed similarly to the other students; military-style jacket, trousers, boots. The shirt was white as salt, what little of it could be seen through the collar of the stiff jacket. Her face was narrow, pointed at the chin and pointed at the eyes and pointed at the nose. She was pretty, in a very pointy way, which often described her personality as well; pointy, but it worked for her. Her eyes, focused on the desk in front of her, were the hazel of the ocean, where vibrant greens are muted by the deep blues of fathomless water.
Those eyes flicked up at the chalk covered slate hanging at the front of the room, which was laboriously being cleaned by the teacher, one circuitous swipe following another. Bit by bit, the dull patina of chalk was eaten away by the voracious eraser, slowly wiping away the day's lesson on history. The three letter word in the middle, written in large letters and resisting the nibbling effects of the eraser for now, seemed to catch most of her attention. You could see the thoughts bouncing around in her skull.
Sue. I never could understand why they would name a world like that. Back in the old days, it was called Terra, but one of those political movements that arises from just the desire to get attention managed to change the name of the entire planet to something new, fresh, modern. Yes, the previous three words should be said with as much sarcasm as you can summon into them. I don’t think it makes any sense whatsoever to try and rebrand a planet; the planet is the way it is and no name change is going to change anything. Change comes from momentous events, or a group of powerful people become dedicated to a cause, not from a silly nancy-pancy campaign to change one little stupid thing. Anyway, the campaign to change the name of the planet started right here in Tele.K, and spread country to country all the way to the frozen poles of this world. Now, everyone calls her Sue. Stupid.
The watery sunlight gleamed over the mass of teenagers leaving the massive academy through the front doors, highlighting a stray hair there, reflecting off a watch here. It feebly warmed the concrete of the sidewalk, and faintly illuminated the darkness of the covered track running around the perimeter of the school. What little light managed to fight its way into the darkness showed two young men, one tall with broad shoulders yet with the half starved look so many teenagers have, sitting side by side with their backs against the walls of the school building. They were obviously waiting, and when the girl with the dark hair and the hazel eyes walked through the front doors of the school, they tossed a couple jokes around, laughing easily, then got up and sauntered over. "Hey Mary" said the shorter of the two, giving her a friendly shove with his shoulder as they followed the mass of humanity flowing away from the school.
"Hey Pug" said Mary back. "Thanks again for your help. I don't know what I would do without your loving friendship."
Pug shrugged his shoulders, the broad grin seemingly irrevocably cemented to his face. Turning to the tall young man, Mary spoke quietly. "And how are you Tilly? Did the citizenship exam go well?".
Tilly looked at Mary with somber brown eyes, filled with equal parts sadness and intensity. He looked, and slowly nodded; quirked his upper lip in a quick half smile, then looked forward again. Mary smiled back. "Good. I know this was an important step for you. Did anybody in our grade see your score?"
This time, when the eyes turned back to her, they held a spark of contentment, and a real smile rolled the edges of his lips upwards. With quiet pride, he shook his head back and forth,
"I am so looking forward to the tournament this year." laughed Pug. "Ever since we became friends with Tilly, and saw exactly what he could do, I've wanted to show him off to the whole school."
Finally, Tilly spoke. "You know why I didn't want anybody to know. I wanted to focus on learning, and avoiding all the social drama of school".
"Sure" replied Pug "I understand what you thought. I still think it was a stupid reason, but I understood. However, now that we are just about finished with the academy, we get to show off a bit, right?"
Mary slowed her steps, dragging out her pace until she fell behind the other two, face twisted in a small grimace as she listened to Pug ramble on.
"I mean, seriously" continued Pug "You have some of highest scores anybody has ever seen in like, a century, you pick up new skills so fast it almost looks like you knew them all along, and I have even heard of anybody, even in the tele-corps, who can lift their OWN BODY with their mind. It's almost like your some kind of hero out of legend, come again to Sue to grace us with your power. And besides, it is about high time we knocked that horrible twisty Josephina off her high and lofty perch. Just because she is from the Callun family shouldn't mean she should rule the academy."
"And I'm sure it doesn't hurt that she is one of those "some of the highest scores anybody has ever seen in, like a century" minds either." said Tilly in his quiet voice, gently re-using Pug's words again.
As the two boys were talking, Mary walked slower and slower behind the boys, looking intently at the ground. Don't think about it she thought to herself. Think about fencing practice tomorrow. Think about the strategy and tactics final coming up tomorrow. There is still a couple of points you need to work on. Don't think about...that. Don't think about how worthless you really are.
A swelling of water began to form on the corner of her eye as her head fell even further down, her hair falling forward around her face. Her pace slowed even further on the gray concrete sidewalk beneath her feet; the flow of people walking around her parted like a river breaking on a rock. With a quick step to her left, Mary sat on one of the benches placed at regular intervals along the path winding through one of the many parks of the city. Tilly and Pug continued walking, so wrapped up in their discussion they didn't even notice they had left their friend behind. Mary scrubbed desperately at her face with her hands, crushing the nascent tears with the heel of her palm, and took a deep breath as she slowly lifted her head to look at the sky. Overhead, a steady stream of vehicles whizzed back and forth above her head, the tele-crystals that amplified the telekinetic powers of the driver and powered the chariots shining brightly in the quiet light of a fall afternoon. You are different. thought Mary firmly. Just because you have no powers, no abilities, just because you are the only person on the planet Sue with no tele abilities, does not mean you are useless. Just the next thing to it. Another unshed tear began to form, but she continued. You have loyal friends, and other abilities. Don't let yourself drown in pity. The tear grew larger, threatening to spill out of the hazel eye, the salt-reddened eyelids highlighting the ethereal greens.
The sounds of the city surrounded her lonely form, the only one sitting down in the wooded park. The rustle of clothing and the purposeful step of those on the crowded walkway was swallowed by the tree-filled garden lining both sides of the path. The hum of the crystals powering the chariots sifted from above, and the sweet smell of the lycanthum flower, just barely coming into full bloom here in late fall, perfumed the air. All this only served to exacerbate how lonely Mary's figure was; alone in a crowded city.
"Mary!" bellowed a bass voice from further down the path. "Mary you plodder! Where did you go?!" Startled heads swiveled towards the source of the noise, the swiveled back ahead, focused on their destinations again. Mary took another deep breath, passing her hands over her face once again and then rubbing her palms on the thighs of her pants. After one more breath, she pushed herself up off the bench with both hands, straightening her back and assuming a mask of composure on her face. With a brisk step, she rejoined the flow of people in front of her, walking towards the basso rumble still tossing out various imprecations and her name on a regular basis. Ahead, the flow of people parted around the slender, big shouldered figure of Tilly, the kind of frame that suggested someone who would truly be massive as he moved into manhood, and the short figure of Pug, whose short meaty frame fairly hummed with unbridled energy. With amusement, Mary noted he had turned shouting her name into a sort of chant, unconsciously moving to the beat of his own music, tapping feet and twisting periodically. Tilly, in spite of the concern in his face as he searched the crowd for Mary, wore a small smile every time he glanced in the direction of Pug. As his head swiveled up again, he saw Mary, and the smile grew larger as he nodded towards Pug's antics. Answering with a smile of her own, only a little forced, Mary walked up to Pug when he was facing away from her, and gave him a hearty shove. Caught by surprise, the weighty young man went tumbling forward, ending up in a crumpled pile on the ground. "Gosh Pug" said Mary, her tone colored with as much innocence as she could muster "for someone as athletically gifted as you are, I would think you would be able to stay on your feet."
"Oh haha" said Pug as he lifted himself off the ground, brushing the dust off his school uniform. "Why was I looking for again? Suddenly I am having a hard time remembering why I wanted you to come back from wherever you had wandered."
"Probably because of my charming personality" said Mary. "Also, the two of you walking alone like this, people might start to wonder why two ugly dogs decided to walk on their hind legs. I help people realize that you are, in fact, human."
Sticking his tongue out at her, Pug started off again in the general direction of their homes on the north side of the City. Tilly and Mary shared another small smile, then followed their friend as he sauntered off. Speaking in a low tone, Tilly asked Mary "So, why did you disappear on us?".
Glancing up at Tilly's face, Mary saw the concern in his eyes. He, of course, knew of Mary's condition. He, Pug, and Mary had all known each other since they were small. They were all neighbors, and had met when Tilly's parents had just barely moved in when they were hardly three. Ever since then, they had been inseperable friends. They had started school together, practiced fighting in the backyards together. They had also been there when Tilly's mother had disappeared one night, holding together through the storms that had wracked Tilly's family. They had been together the day that Mary went to the testing center for the tenth time, and learned there was no hope that she would ever come into her powers. They had been through thick and thin together, Mary and Tilly friends first. Pug insinuated himself into their friendship later on, but as if he had always been there. and knew the challenges the other was facing. Tilly, in spite of an obsessive need to improve and get stronger so that he could one day set out and find his mother, who he was convinced had been kidnapped, still managed to hide much of that side of himself from the world. He always worried about me and my lack of powers. He, and later Pug, would stay up late after we had completed our other homework, helping me develop my other abilities, trying to work me out of any depression that would often form on me. Soon, I became uncannily good at hand to hand combat, to the point where even using their abilities and their size advantage, Tilly and Pug had a hard time beating me. Last night, I had soundly beaten both of them at the same time, a proud glowing point in my memory. Of course, either of them could just hold me still with their telekinesis and beat me like a small child. With a small catch in my voice, I said "I just had to take a moment. Same problems as always."
With a nod of understanding, Tilly gave me a one-armed hug as we walked along behind Pug.
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Chapter 2
Staring listlessly at my regulation white ceiling, I debate with myself on whether or not I should plan out what I should do after I got out of bed, or if I should get out of bed and just do it. The former option seemed far more attractive to me, but the alarm clock was buzzing over in the corner, out of reach from the bed. I cursed my own prescience last night in placing that tormenting alarm somewhere I couldn't reach, or even throw a shoe at. While I was at it, I also sleepily cursed my lack of telekinesis which would have allowed me to turn off the clock no matter where I was. By this point in my life, such cursing was somewhat matter of fact. Finally, when I couldn't handle the grating buzz any longer, I exasperatedly threw my heavy comforter off and swung my legs to the carpet, stumbled over to the alarm clock, and ripped the plug out of the socket. With a sigh of relief, I stumbled towards my bathroom, turning on the shower and activating the tele crystals that powered the heating system. Checking on my school gear while the shower was heating up, I made sure my dueling saber was clean and locked safely in its sheath and that there weren't any stains on any of the clothes. Shivering a little from the cold, I finally chucked myself out of my bedclothes into the shower, luxuriating in the steam and the heat. This was the best place in the world to be first thing in the morning. The steam wafted through the air like little clouds, condensing on the white tile walls and the small mirror above the sink, making the floor slippery as a ice-skating rink. If I turned up the heat a little too high, the combination of the heat pounding on me, the humidity of the air making it slightly harder to breathe, made it just about possible to forget that I was a freak of nature. I sat there in the shower for a long time.
Finally, I dragged myself from the shower and prepared myself for the day. Today was another chance to prove myself as something, even without abilities. Today was the Strategy and Tactics graduation exam, both the theoretical and the practical parts, as well as the final tournament in Combat class. The ones that would place the highest in these two exams went into the biggest event of the year, the Academy Tournament. The Academy Tournament was both a sporting event for the community and a deadly serious examination for the students. How you did in the Academy Tournament determined your eligibility to become a part of the Tele-Corps, the military body that protected the nation. Being a member of the Tele-Corps automatically granted you many privileges and rights that ordinary citizens never would see, and opened up career options that were extremely and incredibly lucrative. From the mayor of the City to the supreme governor of the Telekinetic Nation, every single one was a member of Tele-Corps and was considered a capable warrior and a powerful telekinetic. While I knew there was next to no chance of making even the lowest levels of the Tele-Corps, freak that I was, I was determined to show my capabilities; show that I was the best duelist, the best tactician, the best strategist, that the Telekinetic Nation had ever seen. I had a fighting chance to prove this, since there were no abilities you could use doing the Strategy and Tactics exam except for your brain, and abilities were not allowed to be used on your opponent during Combat class. Supposedly it was supposed to make you a better technical fighter when you actually did use your abilities against a scumbag from the Teleportation Nation, for example, but whatever. I didn't care about the reasons, I only cared about the slim chance it gave me. By scoring high in those two tests, you were placed high in the rankings for the Tournament, which gave me the slimmest of hopes I might survive long enough to actually qualify for the Corps. What a thing that would be I thought. I would love to see Josephina's face was immediately the next thought that popped into my mind.
I should probably explain that thought. Josephina was the heir to the Clannad family, one of the ruling families of the Telekineses Nation all the way back to the time when we ruled Sue (which was then called Telek, in honor of the telekinetics that ruled it). Traditionally one of the most gifted families in the nation, Josephina seemed to be the heir to that as well. She was at least as strong as Tilly, but also excelled where Tilly did not; she was a genius strategist. She was poised to become one of the most powerful people in the nation, ready to campaign for supreme governor when she reached the age of her majority at 35. It didn't hurt her much either that she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the City, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and perfect white teeth. Of course, in keeping with the traditions of my life, she had also decided that my friends and I were the scum of the planet, and so deserved to be destroyed from it. I kid you not, she has tried to get me expelled fifteen times, killed twice, and even worse, tried to label me as a traitor once. I have no idea why she decided I was so terrible, but there you go. I couldn't just have a normal enemy, maybe a girl that talked behind my back about the size of my butt or something dumb like that. I had to have the single most powerful teenager in the nation. Who was also more than slightly cracked in the skull. I shuddered, the room suddenly seeming a little smaller, my clothes a little tighter around the neck. I really didn't like her. With a deep breath, I buckled on my dueling saber, checked my lines in the mirror, then ran down the stairs, skipping the bottom step like I always did, and stepped briskly into the kitchen where my little brother and parents were seated around the table, eating their morning gruel and fruit, everyone already in the uniform. My dad was a Captain of the Wall, a prestigious position, and looked it every inch. Steel colored stripes in his hair, stern lines framing a stern set of iron eyes, all hanging like an ominous cloud over his firmly set lips and stubborn jaw. That is, that is what he looked like to the soldiers he commanded. At home, those lines relaxed into what made them, laugh lines gathering around his playful grey eyes and leaving their traces around his mouth as well, the same mouth that barked orders at work and never stopped making jokes at home. My mother sat next to him, as short as I was but otherwise a perfect match for her husband, with the same fluctuating wrinkles and eyes. An accomplished strategical technician at the Corps, she was in high demand. Every Captain and Liutenant seemed to want her advice, in spite of her official position as Strategos of the Wall, and partner with my dad. She had to report every morning but only needed to be there for two hours a day since she had children still living at home. Sitting across from my mom was my little brother, Luki, named after the founding member of our family. He looked a lot like I did when I was ten, with brown hair and hazel eyes, but luckily he had avoided whatever curse had landed so firmly on me. With a grumble, my belly complained about the moment I had taken to look at my family, and reminded me that it had been waiting patiently all night for me to stick something in it. With a laugh, my father looked up from the stack of reports he was reading at the wooden table and said "Mary, good morning. I expected you to be down here an hour ago, all pale and nervous about your test. Aren't you going to be late?"
Looking at the clock hanging on the wall, my knees weakened suddenly. "Oh no" I said loudly. "I didn't realize, I'm ten minutes behind schedule! The crystal in my clock upstairs must be cracked!"
Rushing over to the table, I grabbed Luki's bowl of gruel and chucked it in my mouth, ignoring his complaints and stuffing it in my mouth to the point it started to dribble out, then rushed over to the wall where I grabbed my bag, snatching up a piece of fruit on the way. Rushing out the door with the sounds of my parents good luck wishes ringing in my ears, I took off in the direction of the school, pushing my carefully trained body as fast as it would go, feeling the muscles in my legs warming up as I picked up speed. The wind began to howl in my ears as I started to really get moving, the benches and trees lining the walkway flashing by, the sound of my feet pounding the concrete forming a quick percussion beat to accentuate the sound of the wind in my ears. Up ahead, I could see the school growing larger and larger in my vision, the huge Tournament arena behind it looming even larger behind it. I focused my eyes on the arena, and poured on even more speed. I was moving so fast I was keeping pace with some of the slower moving chariots whizzing through the air ahead of me. My speed was something that nobody could touch, neither could they explain. I consistently beat everybody in speed trials, in spite of my lack of abilities to aid my muscles. The only people who could beat me consistently were Tilly and Josephina, but to me, flying was cheating, so I never counted them.