Ghost in the Roses

My memo for my very first case is ready for submission. After Sir Agapa gets the chance to review them all and give feedback, he’ll treat us to a very special field trip to the High Court in The Capital. I long and dread that day to come and no matter how much I’d like to be left alone and rehearse my case, I need to regain my focus for the next class.

“Come on! Hurry up!” he’s yelling at us as usual, but today Sir Thirdvoy sounds actually happy.

What does this old centaur have up his sleeve this time? He seems very anxious and is keep tapping his fingers against an oak box centered on his desk. His hooves are restless and keep shifting the weight back and forth. I’ve never seen him this excited to be teaching us before.

It takes us less than a minute to get lined up at attention next to our assigned desks. Some of our instructors abandoned this practice of respect, but he’s the other half that likes to keep this tradition each time his Weapons’ History and Appreciation Class is about to begin.

“You may be seated, cadets!” he nods.

Like a well-oiled machine, we step and move down as one.

“Today is your lucky day. Today, you’ll have the pleasure of learning about my favorite weapon of all,” he rolls up his sleeves.

I perk up, trying to get the best view as he uncovers his secret. From the wooden hollowness, Sir Thirdvoy presents the dangerous pair.

No way! I had no idea we would get the chance to see them at the Academy. I thought the only time I’ll get to be close to one of these beauties is upon my arrival at my Chosen House of Blue Domain as a welcoming gift after my apprenticeship is complete.

“These, my dear dumb-asses, these are the Adam’s Ribs,” he starts out the proper introduction slow, then the spectacle begins to grow into a hurricane of skill.

To him, this is second nature, but what his weapons are capable of is anything but. A swift downward motion pierces the air and the ends of the fossilized bones split the molecules. I can hear them screech as the sharpness guts them open. Sir Thirdvoy leaps into the cavity he forced upon the space and vanishes. The wound he caused is quick to heal and traps him within. Like the air he cut, he too becomes invisible.

“Don’t think this means that the class is dismissed early,” a voice comes through a shadow in a far corner. It’s Sir Thirdov and he didn’t allow us to miss him even for a moment.

He’s made his way back the same way he escaped us. We can still see the space heal behind him.

“Don’t look so dumbfounded. Cadet Katia tells me what just happened,” but before she could say anything he disappears again.

Where did he go this time?

“Well, come one. Do you know the answer or you don’t?”

Ah, there he is, right behind Katia and he got just the reaction he wanted from her.

She regains her composure with the answer, “Sir, you made a cut in a single layer of space and entered the other side of it, then to come back to our side of space you made another cut.”

“Correct. Now, Cadet Nina. Why did I end up on this side of the room? Couldn’t I come from any direction?”

“Not exactly, Sir. You choose your way of re-entry as you make your exit. Which way you cut to exit, determines from which way you are allowed to come back.”

“Looks like you ladies have been keeping up with your reading. Let’s see if the gents have done the same. Cadet Adrien! How can my opponent make this move a disadvantage to me?”

“Sir, with a trained eye, a knight can learn to keep track of how the cuts are made and foresee from which direction the opponent with try to attack. The opponent has no choice but to re-enter from this particular direction and might fall victim to his own trap.”

"And what are the advantages of this weapon?"

"Space is not the only thing that they can cut."

“Good. Cadet Kai, what are these weapons made of and how are they made? And why are they called Adam’s Rib”

“Sir, Adam’s Rib is made out of organic matter. This weapon is not made but mined from the Lamios Layer. They are the fossilized remains that come from a ribcage of an intelligent species that dominated this world millions of years ago. Based on what text that survived, they often referred to themselves as Adam.”

"You guys are on a roll! The Adam species did roam this world 2.8 million years ago and built many civilizations throughout their existence of 250,000 years. No scientific organization is sure what made them extinct, but there are a few evidence-based theories that say either the effects of the change of climate or the ever-evolving strands of diseases wiped them out. Some even suggest that Adam wiped themselves out. Whatever mistakes they made that led them to their fate, I hope that we won't be repeating them," for a moment there, he sincerely looks sad.

It does seem strange that all of this used to belong to someone else and are not here to explain our inheritance. I wonder what their kind would say of our way of life and of dragons that in their time only existed in their imaginative stories. An existence without dragons is a life that I cannot imagine for myself.

"Alright, then. Cadet Mihael, what classification is Adam's Rib?" he's back.

"Sir, this is a First Class weapon, its category is Warp, section- Old Organic."

“Alright! Looks like you all are caught up on your reading and I shall reward you for it. Care to try them out yourselves at the arena?”

That’s really an order, but there are a few times when an offer actually feels like one and this is the time when it does.