A Soldier's Life - 5 - Secret Space

• I will have a Soldier Seraphim Chapter coming later tonight. Book 1 of A Soldier's Life will be removed from KU on December 8th, and all books will be added to KOBO. They will still be on Amazon as well.
  
  Next week I start editing and posting 2 chapters of book 6 from the Seraphim collection on Mondays.

• There will be a new World Sphere chapter this week to. Just a day behind and I have a wedding tomorrow. 5 hours round trip of driving and short ceremony so I will be writing in the morning and at night.

Chapter 5: Secret Space

As my magical training progressed with Damian, I missed spending my evenings with the ever-quiet Helena and the extra staff practice. Helena was rough around the edges, but as I grew more and more comfortable in my new world, the scarred, muscular woman looked better and better to me. Then again, she was the only woman I got to see on a regular basis.

I met with Damian nearly every evening as he taught me the fundamentals of learning a spell and how to imprint a spell form. He explained that I couldn't learn the dimensional pocket as a traditional spell but could instead imprint a basic spell form onto my core to generate the pocket space. He reassured me that I would eventually be able to create the spell form if my affinity score exceeded 10, though some people took longer to manifest it.

Few people could master the complexities of memorizing the extensive patterns, writing them in the air, and casting spells. It required a high attribute score in aether shaping and excellent memorization skills. It would also take a few weeks before a copy of the spell forms could be transported from the Mage College to assist with my visualization. Damian assured me he had sent the request, and it would arrive soon.

Damian was a patient teacher, but he seemed very bored with his role as a healer. His assistance was invaluable because, during my next test, I made significant progress in my magical development. My improvements were so notable that the fort’s Centurion was informed, and he summoned me before him.

He looked over the transcribed numbers on a piece of paper before him while I stood at attention. Then he spoke seriously. “Tirones, how did you make such significant gains in your magical attributes in three weeks? Are we teaching magic now?” His icy blue eyes focused on me. Tirones was the Telhian word for legionnaire in training.

“During my free time after dinner, one of the healing mages has been helping me, Centurion.” The Centurion, a very large man, shifted in his chair, which groaned slightly. He pulled out some more paperwork and read it.

“Do you think you can learn to create a dimensional space, tirones? Before you complete the training?” he asked sternly. I had absolutely no idea. I did not even know if I was close. I was hoping my ridiculous score in space magic would have helped by now.

“Yes, sir!” I said with confidence, even though it was faked. He nodded appreciatively and looked at some more papers.

“Okay, you can continue working with the healing mage. Is it Damian?” I nodded. “Good. Work with him in the morning as well as the evening. You can have the second daily conditioning phase off. There are three requests for a soldier with a dimensional space spell form. One is from one of the Emperor’s sons.” He looked at me again and focused on my amulet.

I answered his question before it was asked. “I no longer require the amulet, Centurion. I have a basic understanding of Telhian.” I understood it would have been embarrassing for him to send someone to the Emperor’s son who could not communicate.

“Damian will keep me updated on your progress. You are dismissed.” I left the intimidating gaze of the man.

I did not see Damian for the two days of weapon testing, but I did much better than I anticipated. I finished 12th in sword ranking, 15th in sword and shield, 20th with the dagger, 9th in hand-to-hand, and 4th in the spear.

Although my rankings did not improve much, my level of ability closed the gap with those I had previously deemed far superior to me. I also had a feeling that the Centurion had tested us with the spear to reward me since it was my best weapon. He even came out to watch the final pairings. When I just missed out on an essence reward, and the Centurian marched away disappointed.

Damian still hadn't come back, so I asked one of the other mages about his absence. “The Centurion sent Damian to get a spellbook,” he informed me. “Don’t know why, though.” I nodded and figured it was the dimensional space spell.

As training continued, only 43 of us were left. I had been so focused on my own problems that I didn't notice the cuts from testing the tablet and the combat rankings. We were quickly nearing the Centurian’s goal of 30 tirones becoming Imperial Legionnaires.

Getting the second half of morning conditioning off did not endear me to my fellow legionnaires. The special treatment meant I had to deal with more aggression from multiple directions during open combat training. In the four days before Damian returned, I suffered just as many broken bones, punctures, and lacerations as I had in the previous eighteen weeks.

Damian returned one night after dinner while I was exercising alone near the lake under the setting sun. The lake was glass-like today, and the other soldiers rarely came up there. He waved a pamphlet as he trudged up the trail. “I got the spell and a more recent copy at that!” he said excitedly.

We spent the evening going over the spell, and Damian explained the basics of the patterns as best he could. “I was unable to get the simplified spell form most use to inscribe a spell, but we can work from the actual spell instead!”

“What is the difference?” I asked.

“Spell forms have all the layers of the spells laid out together. A true spell separates the layers in discs, like the ones in the amulet I showed you. Breaking the spell into parts makes it easier to memorize the entire pattern,” he explained.

The best way I could describe a spell was a complex geometric pattern. The spell forms wrote out the formula, and when you funneled the correct aspected aether into it, you got the effect. It meant magic had a massive range of possibilities based on changing a few variables. During the rest of the interim weeks between testing, we worked on the spell, and I was actually starting to get an understanding of magic. It was an obscure understanding, but at least that was something. My progress was not as good when I considered it had been six weeks since I have been able to read my results.

Physical

Strength(+2/+0)46/79
Power(+3/+0)43/82
Quickness(+3/+0)29/49
Dexterity(+2/+0)27/56
Endurance(+0/+0)56/87
Constitution(+3/+0)37/65
Coordination(+3/+0)38/61

Mental

Intellect(+2/+0)28/54
Reasoning(+4/+0)44/59
Perception(+0/+0)52/60
Insight(+3/+0)31/49
Resilience(+1/+0)45/71
Empathy(+0/+0)10/21
Fortitude(+2/+0)46/89

Magical

Aether Pool(+2/+0)12/22
Channeling(+3/+0)10/55
Aether Shaping(+2/+0)6/8
Aether Tolerance(+1/+0)21/50
Aether Resistance(+1/+0)4/19
Prime Aether AffinitySpace
Minor Aether AffinityTime

My magic had not increased significantly like the centurion had suggested, but I guessed any modest improvement while I should have just been doing physical training was noteworthy. As Damian had said, my physical gains had slowed by this point in our training. The days were no longer too tough for most of us in the barracks now, and there wasn't much the instructors could throw at us at this point.

At our next tutoring session, Damian revealed that my scores ranked me 28th in my training group. He mentioned I had fallen four spots since three weeks ago. The good news was that the Centurion was very eager to see me learn a spatial storage spell form. He would be eligible for a reward if he managed to produce a soldier with a dimensional pocket.

The weapons ranking went badly and I slipped in rankings. I was basically ganged up on as my barracks shared information about my habits and weaknesses. I finished 22nd in sword ranking, 25th with the sword and shield, 34th with the dagger, 14th in hand-to-hand, and 11th in dual wielding. They made no secret of sharing my flaws among themselves—so much for building camaraderie.

We only lost three men between the tablet and weapons ranking, dropping us to 37. If it was true that only 30 could graduate, then it was going to be pretty tough to avoid being one of the last seven cuts. I actually wished I had made an effort to make friends. The problem was that everyone was kind of an asshole, and even Helena rejected associating with me because of the special treatment I was receiving. Almost everyone here was here because they committed brutal crimes.

Luckily, things worked out for me a week after we reduced our numbers to 37. My dimensional space spell form became imprinted. Mentally, it felt like a series of gears clicking into place with a slight case of indigestion new my aether core.

I finally obtained my dimensional space, and it proved to be more powerful than I had expected. I performed my first test by reaching into my aether core and channeling aether through the spell form. A translucent cube materialized in front me as my aether powered the space. It was only visible to me and oriented towards my person.

According to the spell, there was no gravity and no passage of time inside the space. Even if the space was open, I could actively permit objects to pass through without placing them inside. Others wouldn't be aware of the space, as only I could see it. Sending objects into the cube required significant mental effort, and I found it easier to touch the item physically. I could rotate the cube and send any object that fell within it to the pocket dimensional, but this was much harder.

There were drawbacks. Keeping the open space cost me aether, and I had very little aether to start with—my pathetic aether pool attribute of 12 made it the space’s utility limiting. When I ran out of aether, the space closed no matter what, shockingly shearing off the objects not fully inside the cube.

After some experimentation, I excitedly found Damian. He was watching two legionnaires from another barracks settle a disagreement with dists, ready to heal them. I whispered to him, pretending to watch like others in the circle. “It works. I got my pocket space!” Damian’s face showed surprise, then joy.

“How large is the space?” he asked eagerly. I thought it out before replying. My space was a large cube, maybe ten feet to each side. I knew he would be impressed, but decided on caution.

“How big do you think it is? What is a good size?” I prompted his expectations.

“A cubic foot would be exceptional! But six cubic inches should be enough to get you a messenger position,” he said, anxiously awaiting my response.

I paused. The actual spell book I learned from created a space of about a cubic foot, so my space was about 1,000 times that volume. I guessed it had to do with my space affinity of 98. If I revealed this, would I end up married to some princess? Or would I end up being enslaved to a king transporting illicit items for him? I decided to go for the middle ground and keep my true talent secret for now. “It is just over a cubic foot, maybe one and a half feet to the side,” I revealed, showing him with my hands making an approximation.

Damian jumped excitedly. “We should go to the Centurion immediately! He will want to hear this! And he will probably test you to confirm what you are saying is true.” Damian was bouncing all the way to the manor and kept telling me to hurry up.

In front of the Centurion, it was as he said. I was tested to confirm that I did have a space the size I mentioned, roughly eighteen inches. The Centurion’s smile grew as everything was confirmed with experimentation.

I also found out that there are a few important advantages of the imprinted spell form as opposed to casting the dimensional space spell. Because the space was formed as an imprinted spell form and not a spell, it was permanent.

If I had used a spell as intended, then my link to the space could have been broken with a spell to dispel magic, or if I had been knocked unconscious. All the contents would have been ejected in that case. Now, the only way to access the items in my space was to kill me, thus canceling the spell form. That might not be such a good thing…

The Centurion spoke, intruding on my thoughts. “The Emperor’s son’s request has already been fulfilled, but the other two requests in the Empire are still open. I will send word of your potential and wait to hear back.” He seemed eager as he started writing the letters.

According to Damian, the Centurion was in line for a sizable bonus, but I would not be seeing a silver. Without looking up the centurion added, “There is great news for you. Once your assignment is approved, you will be promoted to full legionnaire under the Lion’s banner. You will start receiving payments earlier than most. Of course, we should get you fitted for your legionnaire’s armor. You were probably not told, but your salary will be withheld to pay for the gear. Seventeen gold in total.”

My jaw dropped. That was astronomical compared to the 40 silver I owed the farmers. “Do not worry. You are gifted a full set of gear on your 5th anniversary. So, if your gear is intact, then you will get all the coin back, minus your debt and interest. You will also probably earn more than 5 silver and 40 copper per week, as you will also be a magical specialist. But that will depend on your assignment.”

I did the rough math in my head. That 17 gold was over 310 weeks of pay! I did not know if I should be angry or not. I would essentially be fighting for no compensation.

As we left the Centurion, Damian tried to soothe me. “Don’t worry. You are allowed to take loans out against future pay, up to 5 silver a week. The equipment payment is just to let you know that it is owned by the Telhian Empire and not yours until you complete five years of service.” That did make me feel slightly better—actually, no, it did not. “Keep it in good order and don’t borrow too heavily. The annual interest is low, but it does add up.” He finished by clapping me on the back.

Great, I was in an empire that was aware of how to use compounding interest against you!

The next day, during training, the Centurion came out and watched. It was the first time he had watched our particular class, not during ranking combat, and everyone tried to impress him. When my opponent got a head strike on me with his pommel, causing a bloody laceration and concussion, the instructor rushed in and reprimanded him.

This left our group stunned. No one had ever been reprimanded for a good, non-lethal strike. It was, of course, because I was now valuable to the Centurion. Damaging his golden bonus was off-limits.

Four days later, Damian found me after breakfast. “Word just came down. You are going to be assigned to Mage Commander Castile.” He did not seem too enthused about delivering the news.

“What is the problem?” I asked, worried by his tone, and putting down my spoon.

Damian chewed his cheek, trying to break the news softly. “She is a bit of a problem solver. She handles the toughest assignments. Her legionnaires are highly skilled, but because of their risky missions, it's rumored she often has to replace them. He had a grim look on his face.

God fucking damn it! I was assigned to the suicide squad!

© Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne

No permission is granted to translate, copy, or repost this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site other than my Patreon, it has been stolen without my permission and violates the DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removing or altering this notification acknowledges that you are aware that you are violating the DMCA. No permission is granted for my original work to be used to train AI.