Chapter 29 – Repercussions: Part Two

“But…” I sputtered, mind reeling at the implications. “I thought the Anathema weren’t intelligent like that? That they were like the weather, unpredictable and just a part of life?”

“That… is a complicated subject,” Everglaive sighed. “The Anathema are a blight, a malice that seeks to cause the most destruction possible. This malice may be best described as a vague and nebulous hive mind, showing at least some coordination in order to effectively accomplish its goal. While we’ve never seen a worldwide “invasion” like this before, there are instances of Usurpation Zones or large scale attacks working in sync to accomplish the most damage. Comparing the Anathema to the weather is apt, but only if you modify the definition into saying the weather sometimes decides to try causing the most chaos possible.”

Everglaive paused, then nodded to herself as if making a decision.

“Some higher level Anathema are capable of commanding and coordinating others of their kind, but we’ve never seen one capable of operating on this scale. Theoretically, it isn’t impossible, but we have yet to discover any real leadership or command network behind the Anathema’s overarching actions.”

Some of the tension left me as I nodded. It was interesting to know that some Anathema could get strong enough to command others, but even from what I knew, it didn’t seem likely they were organized. If they were, I doubted they would be opening Usurpations at seemingly random locations and intervals, attacking places where they knew they were going to be repelled.

“Regardless, the goal of the worldwide attack has come into sharp focus the past few days,” Everglaive continued. “Taking down the Sanctuary Cities was never going to happen with the level of forces they used, but between the number of Usurpations and Anathema they sent, reality around the Sanctuaries has been drastically weakened. Our early warning system has fallen from being able to predict Usurpations up to an hour in advance to only fifteen minutes. Even worse, we’ve been experiencing multiple daily Usurpations. All of them have been low level and fairly small in size, but it is clear they are attempting to keep reality weak around the cities with constant attacks.”

“How bad is that?” I asked, clenching my mug tighter.

“Well, it’s actually quite good for Guardians,” Everglaive responded. “The Zenith recruit new Guardians in giant waves, so right now, there are a lot of new Guardians who can potentially make use of this for easy levels and points. The Usurpations are also weak and small enough that the Magical Soldiers can take care of them on their own if needed. While it has caused more disruptions in the city, most of the Zones are limited to only a building or two in size with maybe two or three dozen Anathema appearing at the most. In the long run, it will be quite beneficial for the growth of new Guardians like yourself.”

“For now, more experienced Guardians are taking care of it,” Naiad said. “Just until the academy starts up and the new wave has enough training to actually fight.”

“There’s an academy for Guardians?” I asked, vaguely remembering Error Machina mentioning something about that.

Everglaive and Naiad both paused, looking at each other and then back to me. I felt myself curling up further into myself as Everglaive tilted her head at me curiously.

“Excuse me for asking,” Everglaive began slowly, “but you are in high school, yes?”

“Um… yes?” I answered, nervously shifting around.

“I see… It’s just, most people know about the Guardian Academy. It’s somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, especially with the annual festival they hold. There’s a few high school classes that also teach about Guardian culture and events if I’m not mistaken.”

A blush creeped up onto my cheeks. Of course I’d heard of the festival they held every summer. It was a huge, city-wide event with days of games, events, and even tournaments. I’d just never actually watched it more than stopping on the street to see some of it being broadcast on a TV. I had so much else to worry about and do, Magical Girl things had never really seemed that important.

“Oh… I didn’t realize there was an Academy involved. I, um… I haven’t paid much attention to Magical Girl stuff. I’m only a first year in high school, and we haven’t really gotten into Magical Girl things yet…”

The last part was a blatant lie. We had talked about various things, but I’d mostly used the time to either study other subjects or work on homework. That, or I was resting my eyes for a few minutes…

“Ah,” Everglaive said, nodding. “Apologies, sometimes I forget there are people out there who aren’t as interested in Magical Girls as I was before becoming a Guardian. Going back to your question, yes, there is an academy. One in each Sanctuary City, in fact. While it isn’t mandatory that you go, I would highly recommend it. Classes there are taught by either experienced Guardians, Familiars, or subject matter experts. There, you’ll learn things like proper fighting technique, the lore behind magic, the common types of Anathema and how to recognize them, marketing yourself as a Guardian, working in teams of Guardians, and a variety of other things. The academy is starting up soon, and the knowledge you can learn there is invaluable.”

[It is highly recommended that all Magical Girls go through at least one year of the academy, preferably all three,] Selene added. [The survival and growth rate of a Guardian increases dramatically for each year you attend. Additionally, there are many special opportunities that can only be attained by attending.]

It sounded incredible. I’d been stopping to ask Selene for explanations constantly, and I was still learning things. Sitting down and actually getting a chance to absorb the information would be a blessing. It already felt like I’d forgotten half the rushed answers Selene had given me.

The only problem was…

“Um. How does it work with regular school? Would I stop attending my normal classes or…?”

“There are a few options,” Everglaive nodded expectantly. “One is to go to only the academy and receive private tutoring on the normal school subjects. This is something I wouldn’t recommend. Immersing yourself with only Magical Girls can be incredibly insulating and skew your perspective negatively. It also robs you of any chance of normalcy, something we as Guardians need to balance out the stressful, combat filled lives we live. No, the normal route is to go to a normal school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then attend the academy on Thursday, Friday, Saturday.”

“Wait,” I frowned. “Isn’t that the schedule for the special offering students?”

The SO students were a sort of unique phenomenon in Sanctuary Cities. They only went to a normal school half the week before heading to a specialized school the second part. Mostly, it was for students who both already decided what profession they wanted to pursue and had some sort of special circumstance. Things like surviving a brutal Usurpation, losing family, or having the highest level of grades for the school entrance exams were ways to get offered a spot. Supposedly, it helped the brightest of students excel in their field and also gave the misfortunate ones a chance to thrive.

SO schools were known for producing some of the most experienced graduates and were highly coveted. My brother had gotten into one designed around magitech engineering due to his grades, and he was already working at a company as a paid intern with a promise of employment upon graduation.

“It is the same schedule,” Everglaive confirmed. “SO schools help as a sort of smoke screen for Magical Girls, allowing those who wish to keep their private identities secret a legitimate way of hiding what they are. The unique blend of a normal school environment combined with specialized learning helps produce well-rounded individuals for both SO students and Guardians.”

I let out a quiet sigh of relief, feeling myself relaxing. My school situation was… not great. But it was manageable, and I wasn’t willing to lose my friendship with Lily just to escape some annoying bullies. I’d handled it just fine since middle school, even if they had gotten more aggressive lately…

I shivered, remembering my current predicament with Katie. I still had no idea how I was going to deal with that…

“Speaking of private identities, I never asked you if you wanted to be a public Magical Girl or keep your personal identity secret,” Everglaive said. “Not many choose to be public, but some enjoy the fame.”

“Um. What would you recommend?” I asked, already fairly certain what I wanted.

“Keep your identities separate unless you want to be recognized every time you go out in public,” Everglaive said seriously. “Once you go public, there’s no going back. Everytime you go out to eat, to buy groceries, or even just walk down the street, there’s a good chance you’ll be recognized. Considering your deeds and the fact that you’re a Dark, I would say there’s almost zero chance of you ever going outside unnoticed. Linking your two lives together takes any chance you have at normal interactions with non-Guardians.”

“Some people love the attention,” Naiad sighed, shaking her head. “They like the full celebrity treatment. Honestly, though? We get enough of that while we patrol around in our outfits. Never having a chance to just be a normal person, to just go outside and not worry about being the symbol of hope Guardians are made out to be… Look, unless you are a serious extrovert, I seriously don’t recommend it either.”

I shivered, shaking my head. That literally sounded like my version of hell. I already got enough looks and stares because of my stature and eyepatch. It was a good day when I got to take the train to school and nobody bothered me about it. The last thing I wanted was more attention.

“How does having a secret identity work exactly?” I asked. “Sorry, I don’t know much about the specifics.”

“Part of your Astral Shift has enchantment magic weaved into it,” Everglaive explained. “It affects the part of the brain that recognizes faces for anybody who looks at you. While you may not look any different from your normal self, the magic tricks people into associating your appearance with a completely separate identity. It also works through pictures and video, and is potent enough that even if somebody had an image of you in both forms and compared them, they would still think that the pictures didn’t match.”

“The only way to break it is if you directly tell somebody you are a Magical Girl or what your personal identity is,” Naiad added. “Although, it isn’t complete protection. Just because they won’t ever see a Magical Girl that looks like you, they can still believe your personal identity is one if you leave enough hints. Going out every night without a good alibi, disappearing whenever something dangerous happens only for a Magical Girl to appear at the scene, and other stuff like that can lead people to suspecting the truth.”

“With how strict laws are regarding the revealing of a Magical Girl’s personal identity, it’s more or less a moot point,” Everglaive said. “The Zenith technology we have access to also makes it possible to constantly monitor for people trying to expose a Magical Girl. Not once in twenty-one years has an identity been revealed to the public. The biggest part you have to worry about is somebody close to you finding out the truth.”

Everglaive suddenly stopped talking, her head tilting slightly to the side. She let out a long sigh a moment later.

“I apologize, it seems we’ve strayed from the core topics I wanted to cover. While all of this is good information, I would like to finish up going over the repercussions of recent events before we discuss more Guardian information.”

“Oh, right,” I blushed. “Sorry… I get carried away with my questions sometimes.”

“It’s no problem!” Naiad cheerily assured me. “It’s a little out of order, but this is all stuff we’d be covering with you eventually.”

“But back to the topic at hand,” Everglaive said. “To summarize: Your Death Wish achieved much more than just saving the shelter, it also helped Guardians clear out Arcadia quickly. As a result, you’ve gathered quite a bit of fame for your heroics. We’ve kept your identity secret and intend to at least until the award ceremony in December unless you decide otherwise. Are we on the same page about everything so far?”

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“Yes, ma’am,” I replied, and she froze for a second.

“Just Everglaive is fine,” she said gently. “Guardians can always refer to each other by their codename. Some might try to be pushy if they are a higher level, but those that do so are generally considered…”

“Pricks,” Naiad interjected, nodding sagely.

“Not incorrect,” Everglaive rolled her eyes. “But perhaps not the most eloquent way of putting it. Moving on, the next thing I wanted to discuss was the first cause of your Death Wish, the illegal activation of the shelter’s emergency shield. In the mall’s third floor shelter, only inexperienced mall guards with no emergency training were present, and an Anathema specializing in psychological combat showed up.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” I admitted as Everglaive paused.

“It could speak,” she clarified. “Which is exceptionally rare at the lower levels. While not very strong, its strength lies in putting its opponent off balance with its words.”

I shuddered at the thought. Anathema already looked like things out of nightmares, and I could only imagine how much more horrifying they would be if they spoke.

“When it spoke, one of the guards panicked,” Everglaive continued. “He tried to activate the emergency shield. A student attempted to stop him and succeeded with some help, however-”

“Excuse me,” I interrupted, my heart lurching in my chest. “Um. Was that student named Lily Parker?”

“They were,” Everglaive confirmed with a nod, and I felt a wave of relief and joy wash through me.

I’d told myself over and over again that Lily didn’t give up on me, but I hadn’t been able to completely ignore the whispers deep down inside. That she’d abandoned me. That she hadn’t cared enough to try keeping her promise. I knew doubting her made me an awful person, that I didn’t deserve her as a friend.

But I was glad she was anyway. Knowing that she’d tried to keep her word made me feel warm inside. I didn’t even care that the shield had still somehow gone up. Just knowing she tried was… everything.

“Are you alright?” Naiad asked, and I looked up in surprise.