We both knew we were two of the most powerful Mageia in the Legion. The most powerful of each of our respective elements. Even though we hadn’t completed the Machi Thanatos, we were far more powerful than our teachers, who were all full-fledged Mageia. We worked actively to hide how strong we were, to make our enemies underestimate us, but without someone to really tell us what to do with all the power we had, we’d taken to practicing on our own as much as possible.
Elusians couldn’t sense our power: they had to actively witness us doing something with our power to know to Suppress us. That meant we spent a lot of time learning how to use our powers in small, unseen ways. We didn’t advertise our strength because we didn’t want the Elusians to know. What they didn’t know, they couldn’t use against us.
“Get some sleep,ligo adelfos,” I said. Little brother.
His face lit up at the endearment and he grinned at me. “You haven’t called me that before,” he said.
“That’s because ‘asshole’ has fewer syllables,” I grumbled.
He laughed and drifted back into sleep. I stared at the crack in the ceiling for a long time before falling asleep myself. Fuck, he was powerful.
???
The crack of dawn found us in the training arena preparing for another wonderful day in the Legion. Sarcasmdefinitelyintended.
We stood in lines of five across, twenty or more deep. Everyone stood at attention, hands grasping wrists as the Lochagos stood at the front of the room to give us assignments. We were divided first by status: Cadets in front, Hoplites behind. Then by specialty: Earth, Air, Fire or Water.
The eldest in each group was posted on the front of the line nearest the inside aisle. We were responsible for the younger Mageia in our sphere, whether we wanted to be or not.
Depending on the day we could find ourselves in a classroom studying anything from math to ancient history, military strategy to psychology. Or we could find ourselves practicing physical or magical workouts in the courtyard under the sharp eye of Elusian instructors.
The Lochagos stood in front, holding a sheaf of papers.
“Cadets, you are assigned to classrooms today,” he said. A small groan from one of the kids was quickly silenced as his gaze narrowed.
“Earth and Air Hoplites, you have magical workouts in the arena. Fire and Water Hoplites, you will be assisting with the quarterly sewage clean out.”
I didn’t need to hear any groans to know how well that would go over. Alexandria had a decent sewage system, but no one wanted to be crawling around in the tunnels beneath the city, first burning any flotsam to ash, then washing it clean with torrents of water. It was a dirty, disgusting job, and I’d been involved enough times to know how gross it was. Just another job no Alexandrian human was willing to take on.
“Before you are dismissed for your assignments, I have some welcome news. The following Hoplites shall report to the Tachmatarges: Astor, Actimos, Castor, Delilah, Delli, Kataramenos, Mori, Sestus, Skyla, Vlakas, …”
His voice droned on, but I knew what this was. We all moved to the front of the assembly, in order as called. I saw V’sdark head to the left of me. Some of the names I knew well, some only enough to put a face to the name.
“Hoplites. Your time of training is over. You are required to participate in the Machi Thanatos, where you will test your knowledge, skills, and power against all opponents. Should you triumph, you will receive the title ‘Mageia’, an annual living allowance and assignment to a Mentor.”
“Mentor” was the euphemism the Elusians used instead of owner. It was slavery tied up with a pretty bow, but it was still slavery.
“Should you fail…” his voice trailed off. We knew what that meant: death, most likely. Or enslavement to a brothel or tradesman.
“We will be holding the Machi Thanatos one week from today. Attendees, you are excused from normal drills and expected to spend all available time practicing. Do us proud. No retreat,” he said.
“No Surrender!” thundered the response from my fellow Mageians. This was it.
I caught up with Vlakas once we were dismissed.
“You okay?”
Vlakas was close to being back to normal, physically, but I knew the Calling had taken a toll on us both.
“Yeah, of course,” he said, but I could hear the nervous edge to his voice. We headed to the training grounds. One of the advantages of having the Machi Thanatos scheduled was that we would be excused from all other duties.
We headed to an area apart from the rest of the contenders. Some of them were already focusing on physical or magical workouts.
“Have you heard anything about what we might be facing?” Vlakas asked.
I shook my head. “They don’t usually tell us anything about our opponents until the day of the event. At the opening ceremonies we’ll be given some clues as to what the opponents might be, but we have to figure it out for ourselves.”
Vlakas looked confused. “You don’t find out until the day of? How are we supposed to prepare?”
