A Long Time from Home Ch. 02

Author's notes:

This is an Alternate Reality story, where Atlantis, which the inhabitants called Baylon, was real and inhabited by a powerful humanoid race called Baylons.

About half the story happens in the bronze age and I've researched a lot for this story. If you find anything that looks like a mistake in the story, please double check to be sure that you're correct and then PM me about it. :)

A slight warning: This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :) Just be warned that this is a LONG story :)

--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2 -- Flashback: The Quaestio (No Sex)

The city of Grove, Baylon.

I was five when my father took me to attend the Quaestio: The standard pre-school examination all non-noble kids in the Baylon Empire were subjected to, so the Administratum could figure out what their potential talents were and where they should and could go to school.

Since almost all Baylons had the ability to wield magic and mental powers to some degree, there were many schools to choose from, but to most people, only two places mattered: Schola Magia and Schola Mentalis.

If you were extraordinary talented with magic, you could enter the Schola Magia, become a Magi and eventually join Ordo Ars Magica (Baylon: Order of the Magical Arts), the most powerful and prestigious organization in all of Baylon.

The other school was the Schola Mentalis, where they educated Mentats. Of course, you would only be accepted there if you had an exceptional potential for the use of mental powers, also known as Ars Mentalis. Most people who graduated from Schola Mentalis would join the Ordo Ars Mentalis (Baylon: Order of the Mental Arts), which was the second most prestigious organization in the Baylon Empire.

To have your kid entering any of those two schools was the fulfilment of many parents' dreams for their kid, but my parents were more relaxed about it.

Perhaps because both had changed carriers later in life and for that reason didn't see the Quaestio as the all-important day that some other parents do.

The start of the Quaestio was done by a Magus from Ordo Ars Magica, which in this case was a stern elder man assisted by a younger woman, who noted down everything the Magus said.

The magus looked to my father "Your name and occupation?"

"Gaius Chila Emilian, Teacher and Sage." answered my father.

"Boy's name?"

"Ivah Chila Emilian."

The magus nodded, while the assistant wrote down the names.

Then I was handed an ancient looking twelve-sided cube and was told to hold and concentrate on it. A moment later, a lot of small light in different sizes and colours started to appear on it. Instantly, I knew what I was holding. It was a Judex: A magical item that, according to general knowledge, could judge the user's inborn ability to anything and everything.

Most of the twelve sides lit up in different colours and intensities. I had no idea what most of them meant, but two of them glowed like small magical lamps, the colour so bright it was almost white. However, one of the sides barely lit up and my heart sank when I recognized the symbol on the side from the stories: It was the one showing my ability to learn and do magic.

The Magus blinked a few times as he studied the Judex, but the smiled widely and said, "Please note, that the boy has the ability to enter Schola Mentalis, but not Schola Magia."

The assistant tore her eyes away from the Judex, nodded and made a note on his paper.

That message was a bit of a let-down, since my twin sister had taken the Quaestio the week before and had been told she had the ability to become a mage.

The magus handed my father a written note with some numbers on it. "Emilian, please take your son to the Ordo Mentalis right away." For some reason, he smiled. "I think they would love to see this."

I looked at my father and much to my relief there was a big and proud smile on his face. When he saw, I was looking at him, he gave me an approving nod.

I smiled back and knew whatever happened in the rest of the Quaestio wouldn't matter: My dad's approval was enough for me.

As the Sage had told us, we walked directly to the area where Ordo Mentalis was located, but before we reached it, my father said, "When you're tested by Ordo Ars Mentalis I want you to forget about how to behave and just speak your mind."

That caught me by surprise since my parents were normally very insistent on politeness. "Why?"

"Because you have a swift mind and I want the people from Ordo Ars Mentalis to see that." He explained and handed me some stuffed dates. "When you are trying to be polite, it slows you down."

That made sense, so I nodded as I chewed on the date.

At the Ordo Mentalis, we were greeted by a smiling young man, wearing ordinary clothes, but the mark of the Ordo Mentalis was prominently shown on the right side of his chest.

"Hello there and welcome. I'm Titus Fabius." Much to my surprise, he kneeled down so we were at the same height before he continued. "Don't worry. It's gonna be fun and it won't even hurt a bit. What's your name?"

"Ivah Chila Emilian." I answered and with a nod, he stood up again and looked at my father, who handed him the note. Titus looked at it, eyes widening a bit, before he nodded. "Please have a seat and a cup of cider while you're waiting, Sir. This usually doesn't take long."

My father sat down, and I followed Titus Fabius to a circle on the ground where he sat down and looked at me. "Now young Emilian. I'm going to try to make you do as I say, and your job is to try to stay where you are and not leave the circle. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Will you say when the test is over?"

With a smile, he nodded. "Yes, I will."

"No cheating?"

"No cheating." He promised, "We start now."

I nodded again and then he said, "Come over here."

His smile became wider when he saw that I stood still.

"Good. Come over here." He ordered again and this time I could feel the mental power in the command, but as it always did when my mother tried the same, it washed over me like water on a duck and I kept standing where I stood.

Nodding slightly to himself, he tried again. "I said come here."

I kept standing there and after six failed tries, Titus flashed a wide smile. "One moment. I need to go get someone else."

As he walked away, I sat down, wondering whom he was going to get.

He returned a little while later with two other people. One of them was a woman that looked to be about the same age as my mother, while the other was an elderly man.

The woman nodded politely at me. "Stand up, please."

The mental energy washed over me without affecting me, but she had asked nicely and since I could stand up without leaving the circle, I did as I was told. She looked at Titus. "I fail to see your problem, Titus."

Titus nodded and turned towards me. "I think you have lost this round, Ivah."

"But I'm still in the circle!" I protested and saw Titus hide a grin with his hand.

The woman shrugged slightly and said, "Leave the circle."

I crossed my arms and stood still.

The woman looked dumbfounded. She tried again a few times, but each time her mental commands failed, and I could feel her frustration as an almost physical thing.

When she kept trying, I could feel that frustration slowly turned to anger, and it scared me.

I couldn't run away without losing, so I tried the same trick I usually used on my sister, when she became too much of a bother: I projected an urgent need to go to the toilet into her and followed with a spoken "Go away!" as I added mental energy to the command.

The woman turned and marched towards a door, but after a few steps, she suddenly stopped and looked at me with a shocked expression in her face.

"Impressive, young one." Said the elderly man as he studied me. "Where have you learned how to do that?"

"Nowhere... I've always been able to do that." I said truthfully.

The elderly man looked thoughtfully to me. "Emilian huh? I once knew an Ivanka Emilian... Do you know her?"

I looked at my dad and asked. "Isn't that grandmother?"

"Perhaps." He looked at the elderly man "At least if her full name was Ivanka Chila Emilian."

With a chuckle, the elderly man nodded. "That would be her." He looked at me. "Do you like her?"

"Yeah! She's awesome!" I smiled widely "I'm named after her!"

"That a good person to be named after. Is Tatiana Chila Emilian your mother?"

I nodded, while wondering how he knew that, but he answered it a moment later, "I've trained with both of them."

"Oh. You are a painter too?" I asked. Both my mother and grandmother were expert painters, who had not only painted most of the frescos in our house but also sold enough paintings in Grove to make a living out of it.

He chuckled. "No, I trained them before they became painters, but that was a long time ago... before you were born... and it seems like you have inherited their natural abilities or some of them at least."

I looked at my father again, waiting for him to say something, but he stayed silent. The slight smile on his face made me relax though.

A feeling of somebody standing right behind me made me turn around, as a hand landed on my shoulder. It was the elderly man.

"That was fast." He said, "You have excellent reaction, young Emilian."

"Thank you, sir." This close he didn't look that old and while his hand rested lightly on my shoulder, it felt strong.

As Titus had done, the elderly man kneeled, so we were at the same height. "Listen closely, Emilian. I'm going to show you a trick not many people can do... and then we will see if you can do the same." He smiled "If you can I will give you a pouch filled with candy."

Remembering my father words about speaking my mind, I said, "Can I trade half the candy for stuffed dates?"

The smile turned into a laugh. "Yes, you can."

"Great!" I said. That meant I could give the candy to my sister when I came home and eat all the dates myself.

A thought struck me, and I turned towards Titus. "Is the test done now?"

He nodded. "Yes, the test is done. No cheating."

"Yes!" I exclaimed.

The elderly man gestured and suddenly a small training sword appeared in his hand. Exactly the same size and shape as the one my mom let me play with when we were playing guards and bandits in the garden.

"Have you used such a one before?" he asked and handed it to me, hilt first.

"Many times." I said truthfully and took the sword by the hilt.

"Good. Now... in a moment I want you to not shield your mind when I use Ars Mentalis to show you something. You got it?"

"Yes Sir." I said, lowering the mind-shield as my mom had taught me.

Suddenly I heard a voice in my mind. "< Good. Now embrace the sword like this >"

There was a feeling of being one with the weapon, as if the weapon was a part of me and I was part of the weapon.

For some reason, I had no problem achieving the same feeling. It felt quite natural.

"< Now I want you to relax. It's your weapon and its part of you. There's no need to hold it that tight >"

Again, I did as I was told, and the elderly man's voice continued inside my head "< The next I cannot really explain, but you can sense it when I show it to you. Just try to do the same >"

Something in my head changed and when it did, time seemed to slow down. The people around me walked slower and had slower movements when they did something. Strangely, sounds weren't affected.

"< That's because it's all in your mind >" said the elderly man. "< We call this Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: 'Time shall be changed in (the) mind') and it can only be done by those born with the gift to do it... Like you and me, your mother before you and her mother before her again. It's a rare gift from your ancestors and unlike Ars Mentalis or Ars Magica, it's as natural for you as breathing and doesn't take any energy to use >"

"< It all looks strange >" I said with my mind. "< How rare is this gift and is it useful somehow? >"

Again, there was a short mental chuckle. "< It's so rare, that only a few in each generation have it and it's incredibly useful in combat. Let me show you >"

The elderly man gestured to a young guard and a bit later, we were facing each other in the circle, both armed with training swords.

The guard looked down at me at me and looked at the elderly man again. "Sir, are you sure about this?"

"I will not tell you again. Start the combat."

The guard took a step towards me.

"< Use Mutatur Tempus Mente >" said the elderly man in my head and I did as he had showed me, feeling proud that I had gotten it to work in the first try.

Movements slowed to a crawl and when the guard swung her sword at me, it moved so slow that I had no problem getting out of the way, but fast enough that I needed to be on my toes not to be hit.

"< Don't be fooled into thinking her weapon is moving slowly >" warned the elderly man with an amused chuckle "< It only seems that way in your mind and if it hit you, it will hurt >"

I swung the sword at the guard, and she moved to parry, but since she seemed to be moving slow, I had no problem in changing the direction of the swing and hit her on the arm.

"First point to Emilian." Announced Titus.

The guard looked slightly angry and somewhat shocked, but she came at me as if she really meant to hurt me this time.

Since she was much larger me, I didn't even try to parry. I had done that once when training with my mom and the force from her strike had pushed my sword backwards, hitting me on the head.

Instead, I dodged under the sword this time and hit the guard in the leg, which was the only thing I could really reach, without her having a chance to parry.

I suddenly understood that the awesome thing about Mutatur Tempus Mente wasn't that the opponent seemed to move slowly, but because she seemed to move slowly, I had time to think about what I was doing.

"< That exactly right >" sent the elderly man. "< But that is also why you shouldn't use Mutatur Tempus Mente in training. Your body needs to learn how to react on an opponent, even if your mind doesn't >"

"< I don't understand what you mean >" I sent while I dodged a stab.

"< You will in time. Trust me on this one or ask your mother >"

I took a step back and when the guard stacked again, I sidestepped the sword and hit her in the stomach.

"Third point to Emilian." Declared Titus from somewhere behind me. "The match is over."

The guard bowed slightly and walked away without saying a word.

The elderly man congratulated me and took the training sword, before he walked over to my father. "Sir. I will personally recommend your son for advanced training in Schola Mentalis."

That caused my father to lift his eyebrows in surprise and me to smile widely, since it sounded like I had done a very good job.

"Thank you, sir." Said my dad. "May I ask your name?"

"Oh, I'm sorry for being rude." said the elderly man with a slight bow. "I am Kaeso Atilus Maximus, Dominus Grande of Doctrina Gladius (Baylon: 'Grand Master of the Teaching of the Sword') and one of my duties is to teach at Schola Mentalis."

I think my jaw hit the ground at that. Kaeso Atilus Maximus was a famous swordsman as well as an Inquisitor and the stories about his adventures were some of my favourites.

My father bowed back. "I am flattered that you would recommend my son, Dominus Grande."

"Don't be flattered." Said Kaeso Maximus with a slight smile. "I'm not doing any favours, simply recognizing extreme talent when I see it."

My father bowed again and Kaeso Maximus turned to leave.

Suddenly I remembered something and ran over him. "Sir!"

He looked down. "Yes."

I took a breath, "Sir, I think you have forgotten my candy and dates."

He laughed. "Indeed, I had." He looked over at the young man. "Titus Fabius. Make sure that young Emilian here gets a pouch with candy and a pouch with stuffed dates."

"Yes, Dominus Grande." The young man said,

The dream blurred, flickered and disappeared as the darkness came back.