The Nine Bishops

Mika emerged from the barrier to an awestruck silence from the crowd. She instantly broke into a run, ignoring everyone and everything as she raced toward the guild house, the stunned residents of Monsoon parting for her as she went. A quick glance over her shoulder at the tournament bracket verified that she was in the finals. Sure enough, Master Beng’s name was crossed off and Mika’s had moved forward. The only match left before te final was Lancel’s.

Mika couldn’t care less about that round now. She had so many questions for her master. But first she had to find him.

She was halfway back and couldn’t understand why she hadn’t caught up to him already. Either he had gone in a different direction, or there was more to his magic than she knew.

Then, something strange: she felt something pulling her in a different direction. A weird sensation inside her—something she’d felt only once before, when she’d freed herself from Jazmine Ado’s magic.

She stopped running and switched directions, toward a place she had been to many times before. Not really understanding why she felt compelled to go there, Mika found herself sprinting to the Wall of Bishops.

The Wall of Bishops was a monument on which were inscribed the names of every Bishop in history. Mika had gone there often because it always opened her imagination. Next to each Bishop’s name, the wall described his or her magic strain and years of service. There were over five hundred names on the wall, and space remained to inscribe future names. The history of Bishops extended beyond the Selection of Sixteen, which was why there were so many names.

Looking at the names on the wall, Mika would imagine what it was like to have their vague magic ability, and how their use of it had affected Seemos. Each time, she found new names and interesting strains described that she couldn’t comprehend. Of course, she had favorites. She was particularly interested in the Bishops whose magic strain was described as “unknown.”

Mika’s favorite was the first inscribed name, Bishop Zain, whose strain was unknown, as were his years of service. This mystery was a strange anomaly; all the other Bishops had at least an approximate number of years listed.

She was also deeply interested in the most recent Bishops, particularly those who had served under her father. But these remained mysterious, because their years of service were not listed on the wall and she’d been unable to find any historic texts on them. It was as if that period of Seemos’s history had been erased.

The Wall of Bishops was in the northwestern part of Monsoon, so it took a while to get there, even using the canal system. It was not so much a wall as a mountainside, with the words engraved into solid rock, impressive for the ornate carving involved in creating each entry.

Her gut feeling had been right: when she arrived, she immediately saw that Master Beng had arrived before her. He was standing close to the most recently added names, reading them. Mika walked up quietly, trying to be respectful, though she felt like yelling at him. She knew there had to be more to what had happened than she had knowledge of.

She stood next to him, reading the names that had captured his attention. All the Bishop names Mika was familiar with in her generation were on the wall already, from Bishop Tempest to Bishop Flame, but without years of service inscribed because they were still serving. Next to Bishop Joker’s name, the space for listing his magic strain had been left blank, just like Bishop Zain’s. Every other Bishop had something inscribed.

Master Beng was perusing the names just before the current nine. There were six names that caught her attention; three of the names had no inscription of years of service. Mika knew these were the mages who had served under her father. Mika could not find any historic record of them in the library, which made her certain since Sam had told her that the histories had been altered. Mika had raised many questions about them in the past, but after getting nowhere with her inquiries had accepted that she might never know.

But why had Master Beng had come to a place such as this, right after yielding in the tournament?

The two stood together without speaking for a while. Mika finally broke the silence.

“Why come here?” Why come to a place like this right after yielding in the tournament?

She kept her eyes focused on the names, trying to understand their significance.

“I come here every day to pay my respects.”

“To who in particular?”

“A daughter. A son,” he said, with deep feeling.

Which of the names could he be talking about? She had always been curious about Lancel’s parents, but she’d never imagined they’d been Bishops.

“What happened to them?” she asked, still studying the names.

“I’m ashamed to say it, but I don’t remember. All I know is that they were taken away from us suddenly,” he said sadly.

“Is that why you won’t let Lancel become a Bishop?” Mika asked, putting the pieces together.

The events from over a decade ago were a faded memory for him, just as they were for her. Mika knew she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t remember the past. But Master Beng was different; while he wasn’t clear on the details, he wasn’t entirely oblivious to it. The only other living person she’d met who seemed to have any memory of that time was Sam. That was, assuming he was even still alive.

This gave her hope that she might get some answers.

“Lancel doesn’t know the cost of being a Bishop,” Master Beng said. “My daughter … his parents … paid the ultimate price for being Bishops.”

“Which of these names were his parents?” Mika asked, gently.

“Lisha, my daughter, was Bishop Tornado, and her husband, my son-in-law, was Bishop Mass. They were incredible mages and both had a heart of gold. When they were alive, Lancel always wanted to be like them, and I had no quarrel with that.

“But after their deaths, my eyes were opened. I didn’t want that life for my grandson, so I forbid him from even thinking such a thought. I took away the only thing that he truly cherished, other than his parents, which was that dream. I antagonized him, and so far, he’s been able to achieve what he wanted without my help. I should have expected as much, since he was my daughter’s son. I should have known he’d make it this far.”

“Then why are you trusting me to defeat him?”

“Because I can’t defeat him.”

Mika was stunned by his answer. It was the opposite of what he’d told her just yesterday: that he was the only one who could defeat him. Ironically for Mika, Master Beng was the one person she felt she could not defeat. If what he was saying now was the truth, how was she supposed to prevail? Mika had been oblivious to Lancel’s magic ability, since she still hadn’t even seen him fight.

Though Master Beng’s ability was largely a mystery, Lancel’s was absolutely so. No one she’d asked knew how to describe his magic.

While running through Monsoon, she had heard enough of Bojo’s commentary to know Lancel had won instantly again, after Vixin Tamrie managed to show up. He had killed his own master.

She’d been too focused on catching up to Master Beng to pay much attention, but now she wasn’t sure how she’d even survive the first seconds of their fight.

“If you can’t defeat him, then what makes you think I can?”

“I don’t think you can defeat him,” he said. “I know you can.”

Something about the way he said it gave her goosebumps. How does he have so much confidence in me? Does he know that I’ve been holding back in the tournament?

Mika had kept a few aces up her sleeve for future fights, but she didn’t think they were enough to defeat Lancel.

“You are the second person to ever complete my training all the way through,” Master Beng replied.

Now she was really puzzled. She’d always felt that her training was very vague in its objectives. She knew it had a purpose, but it was also sadistic, and she wondered why anyone else would subject herself to it. She did find it reassuring to hear that only one other person had done it.

“Is that the pupil I remind you of?”

Master Beng nodded.

“What is so special about this pupil? This is only the second time I’m hearing about her.”

“She became a Bishop.”

“Really?”

This was exciting. No one in the guild had told her that one of Master Beng’s pupils had become a Bishop. In fact, they had avoided discussing the guild’s success in that area altogether.

“Which one is she?” Mika asked, looking again at the inscriptions.

“Bishop Frost.”

“Which one?” Mika asked, suddenly thinking it was the current Bishop Frost. On the Wall of Bishops, some of the names repeated. If their magic strains were similar enough, they sometimes kept the names of their predecessors. There had been two Bishop Frosts in recent years: the current one, and one who was among the three whose inscriptions were incomplete.

“This one,” Master Beng said, pointing to the one without years of service listed.

“What was her name?”

“Lana … I’ll have to tell you about her some other time. Right now, you should probably focus on your round tomorrow.”

That was true. After Master Beng had yielded, Mika had received a message on her palm to be at the fountain at noon the next day. She had less than twenty-four hours to prepare for her fight with Lancel, and after sleeping poorly the previous night she really needed a good rest.

“I’ll see you back at the guild; I’m going to take a walk,” Master Beng said, turning away from Mika. Though their conversation was brief, Mika felt at peace with what shed had learned. However, she needed one more answer to a question that still troubled her.

“Master… what is Lancel’s magic strain?” Mika called before he left her. He didn’t turn around, but gave her an answer that troubled her even more. It was a one-word response.

Gravity.