Annabelle’s Bastion

“You understand what you have to do, right?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect! But remember, I won’t say I can guarantee you safety; a few above me want you dead, and a couple in my academy feel no different.”

“Then is it really yours?”

“Ha! Of course not. I’m just a Vanguard, and the Commanders had most of the say in who staffed the island… Well, not yet, anyway.”

Vanguard, one of the highest attainable ranks Bastion had. The only rank higher that one could obtain through results and power was Commander. The two above that were the Vindicators and the Council. But since Vindicators mostly acted as the Council’s hands, that rank wasn’t possible unless a Councilor took a liking to someone. Only two people were then above the Council: the Paragon and the Grandmaster. 

Alisha was only promoted straight from an independent Agent to a Vanguard recently in an unprecedented case, but one deserved. Her rank technically afforded her total control over not just the academy but all Bastion activities on Earth. 

But Earth was—for reasons unknown to Aria—too important and sacred for Alisha’s control to be real.

Yet Alisha seemed to be trying for total control. Control she clearly never really had, exemplified by larger-scale things like keeping the planet in the dark about magic or just as simple as not being able to fill the academy with her people. The latter would presumably change once the first few iterations ran their course and eyes were no longer glued to it.

Regardless of the politics, to Aria, Alisha was just her savior and mentor.

Alisha wasn’t there when Aria first came to the island, but she was the one responsible for keeping her there once she turned 16. She was her guardian.

No matter what happened, Aria had complete faith in Alisha. She owed it to her.

But she didn’t know until recently that it could be shaken, and questions formed in her mind.

Why did Alisha protect her for so long… and why did she allow her to kill Jack with Annabelle watching?

If Alisha didn’t want her intentions known—aided by her mask and perfect vocal control—nobody would find out. Aria was no different, nor was she ever good at figuring out such things.

“Alright.” Alisha opened her office, then beckoned Aria in. “We’ll continue in here, my precious den of privacy.”

“There’s more?” 

It had seemed like that was all; what she had to deal with and how to be careful. They had discussed it at length, but it mostly centered around keeping her actions relatively silent or coverable. Alisha probably wouldn’t care if Aria took care of a few people. If it was discreet, of course.

“Eager to be rid of me?” Alisha chuckled, then nodded. “A few things, come.”

Aria complied. 

Alisha’s office was at the top of the academy, an octagonal building with naught but a large carpet, a few couches, and her desk. She clearly didn’t sleep there. Even after all these years, it was still baren.

“I have a few more things I need to inform you of,” Alisha said, taking her spot behind the large, empty desk. She then gestured toward one of the couches. “Take a seat.”

Once Aria did, Alisha pulled out a paper from a drawer and slid it on the table between the couches. 

“Whats—” Aria’s eyes widened as she read the first line. “A tournament?” 

It was an announcement about an upcoming tournament where the prize would be an Apex Sigil. 

“Yep, the first one to ever be held—in any institution Bastion has ever had. It’s a big deal, and not just for the academy.”

“So soon?” 

Since it had only been a few weeks since classes started, nobody would be on par with her. They were practically handing her an Apex Sigil. Which obviously meant something foul was at play.

Alisha snickered. “I can tell what you’re thinking, Aria.” She leaned back in her reclining chair and kicked her legs atop her desk. “I’m sorry to say, but you should also be aware that we have handed out Sigils to every student in this academy…” She pointed at Aria, saying, “All but one.”

“Me,” Aria said, nodding gravely. She had forgotten they were going to hand them out.

In other words, her victory wasn’t so certain anymore—at least in their eyes.

Her so-called punishment for killing Jack, one not even made public, was taking away her first Sigil so that she’d be on equal footing with the rest of the academy. That was all Alisha could get it down to, despite how unreasonable even that was. Unless they wanted to escalate the issue, there was no hope of getting it solved fairly. And that was not something Alisha wanted to do.

“Yep,” Alisha confirmed. ”You’ll be at a significant disadvantage going in, and it’s more than likely you’ll lose.” She shrugged. ”Well, I know you wouldn’t accept this Sigil even if you did win.”

Aria lightly shook her head. “I will still win.” 

Alisha shook her head. “Maybe, but the Sigils we handed out aren’t so easily bested with technique and strength, especially if they’re the elemental ones.” She chuckled knowingly. ”You already knew we were handing those out, though, courtesy of Thagrin.” 

Aria nearly dropped the paper. She stared at Alisha, hoping—in vain—to figure out what she was thinking. “How?”

She couldn’t see Alisha’s face, but it was easy to tell when she felt snobby. It was almost as if she could transmit that annoying sense to everyone she felt like bothering.

“This is my island.”

“You’ve been watching us.”

“Yes, but also no.” Alisha chuckled, an annoying laugh that made Aria always feel like a fool. “The staff told me you were there, but I already knew beforehand.”

“Why did you allow it?”

Alisha shrugged. “I’m not so stringent, wouldn’t you say? I don’t care what resources you use to succeed.”

“Is that... is that why you made Annabelle—”

“Ah,” Alisha interrupted, raising her finger. “Is that really a line of questioning you want to walk down, Aria?”

Without hesitation, Aria nodded. “Yes.”

To succeed, Annabelle would need to experience the harsher reality of Bastion Academy—that was a crude method. But that seemed ridiculous, even for Alisha.

Not many things ate at her, even the people actively trying to find a way to banish her or worse. Yet Annabelle’s opinion mattered. They only shared a room for a week, but no matter how logical Aria tried to be, she couldn’t help but care what her... friend thought. Her first and only one.

Annabelle was the only person alive who somehow made Aria wish she hadn’t killed.

“Speaking of the princess, I do have some good news for you,” Alisha said like she just recalled something, pointedly ignoring her affirmation. “Annabelle chose the supporting path and absorbed her first Sigil, too. Alice informed me that the princess has a monstrous talent for unattuned Sigils. One that she said, and I quote, ‘would make her the best healer in all of Bastion!’”

“Supporting?”

Healing? From the girl who talked about the allure of power and seemed more inclined toward a combat path? It didn’t make sense. Did she really believe she could find that power as a healer? She definitely wasn’t the political type.

Was it entirely that incident? That would mean Aria was responsible for making Annabelle decide on her future.

Even if Annabelle changed her mind later, she already squandered some of her capacity and would be stuck with a useless Sigil.

All because she cared who lived or died—even to the extent that the men who were going to kill one of them warranted having her feel that way.

The churning in Aria’s stomach was a foreign sensation.

“Why did she...” Then, it hit her, and she shook her head. “You influenced her.”

Alisha scoffed. Her legs were still crossed atop her desk, and her hands rested behind her head, betraying how Aria felt about the situation. “I resent that accusation! Annabelle has high mana purity; that was her only option.”

“Purity…” Aria muttered. That was too convenient for her to say it was a coincidence, but Aria didn’t care about that.  “And she chose healing.”

“Hybrid, actually. But she’s an odd one, isn’t she?”

Aria slowly nodded. “She’ll… she’ll be weaker.”

Even understanding the concept of monstrous purity didn’t assuage Aria’s guilty conscious.

“I didn’t realize you were a parrot.” Alisha derisively chuckled. “You’re going to be unattuned, correct?”

There it was—that insufferable arrogance. Alisha spoke like the answer was obvious, and Aria was an idiot for not having the same conclusion.

“Because Sigils—”

“I don’t care to hear recycled nonsense,” Alisha interrupted, raising her hand to silence Aria. “First, you’re assuming her Sigil is bad. Which, mind you, even if it were, one good Sigil makes up for two, maybe even more subpar ones,” she argued. “But, again, her won’t won’t be bad. Imagine it, Aria; Annabelle, with the ability to heal herself and destructive power to match. That is the path I want her to go down.”

“How can you say that?” Aria asked.

“I won’t hear the capacity nonsense anymore.”

It was irresponsible at best and destructive at worst. The only reason Aria was unattuned—for now—was because of her focus on physical combat; she didn’t need any fancy projectiles. She wanted further physical boosts, defensive ability, and utilities to aid her blade’s power. Her elemental destruction would come in the form of an Apex Sigil.

Aria couldn’t even think of a strong, non-attuned Sigil outside of support and utility.

“I know of no non-attuned combat Sigils that could work for her,” Aria said. She obviously wasn't going to become a melee fighter. Whenever she heard people discuss combat, nobody ever mentioned one.

Alisha hummed for a few seconds, contemplating what information she’d be willing to give up. Eventually, she lightly nodded. “There are—obviously. I won’t be giving you a list, but the most common one is called Mana Bolt. It’s pretty straightforward and overlooked by most… I’m sure you can guess why.”

“Elemental Bolts would be stronger,” Aria instantly replied. Although, she had no idea such an ability existed.

“Technically,” Alisha said, shrugging. “But the meaning of a spell like that’s existence is why I am so confident. Do you know what it means?”

“Just tell me.”

Alisha wryly chuckled. “Sorry, sorry. Even at a base level, it’s not necessarily weaker than the elemental ones; it’s just that it behaves too similarly to an arrow without any fancy effects outside of piercing things.” She removed her legs from her desk and sat up straight, her tone becoming serious. “But its existence… the fact that something like that exists means that there is a school of magic that uses mana in its purest form. In other words, the power would be totally affected by purity…” She spoke with a rare wonder, a tone Aria had never heard from her. “What would that look like in the hands of someone like Annabelle? We don’t know—we only just discovered such abilities. ”

That… technically made sense. If it used mana in its basic form, then someone like Annabelle would be among the only people capable of actually using it. Regardless, though—those fancy effects were necessary. Landing a projectile on an opponent was practically impossible at later levels. Aria could dodge any, even at a basic new mage level. In the future, she would only be faster, stronger, and have more defenses.

“Can she really be just as strong as an elemental?”

“Yes,” Alisha instantly replied earnestly. “Do you trust me, Aria?”

“Yes,” Aria immediately replied.

Of course, she did.

If Alisha was so confident, then it must be true. But it was difficult to comprehend, and Aria had no grounds to argue since her knowledge was superficial at best.

“Words won’t be convincing to you.” Alisha left her chair and stood directly before Aria. “The strongest Apex Sigils are attuneless—the Sigils that offer reality-breaking powers. And... my Apex Sigil is attuneless.”

“What?”

That... was absurd.

“Yep—the powers that actually alter our world or grant god-like effects aren’t usually elementally tuned.”

Alisha was the strongest person she knew, the person in direct command of people like Gromak, Jaxon—her combat teacher, and Thagrin.

The only taste of Alisha’s unfathomable power was when she sparred Thagrin. It was a taste because all she saw was them standing toe-to-toe, and then they vanished. 10 minutes later, they appeared in the area with Thagrin beaten on the ground and Alisha scolding him for lack of control.

Before that, Thagrin was the strongest, but Alisha looked entirely unharmed in the aftermath and instead lectured the defeated giant. No sweat, no markings, not even a rip in her clothing.

“Apex Sigils work because they take off a bit of your soul for its own use, meaning mana contamination doesn’t affect it. Get it?”

Aria was at a loss for words. What if she could get an unattuned Apex Sigil that completely removed the need to take any unattuned, regular Sigils? She could get numerous elemental Sigils that work with melee…

Suddenly, her plan wasn’t so clear.

“The reason they want you to go for elemental attunement is because it is true that a matching Apex sigil would make for some catastrophic power.” She shook her head. “However, the real incomprehensible Sigils come from the attuneless.”

“Can...” Aria paused. The question might be a bit too much, but she had to try. “Can you give me an example?”

Alisha chuckled. “No... but just take my word for it. You’ve seen me utterly destroy that barbarian. It wasn’t close.”

Aria nodded. “Ok.”

“Good!” Alisha clapped. “Just talk with Annabelle yourself later if you want her mindset on it. In the end, she made the decision on her own.” Alisha picked up the paper and pointed to the bottom. “This is the reason I told you that.”

It was a section about how supporters played in the competitions. 

“This... is too convenient.”

“My idea.”

“Just for her?”

“How rude!” Alisha then snickered. “I mean, yes. I would have done it just for Annabelle, but no—we need supporters in Bastion far more desperately than you and most others think. I convinced them to allow this.”

“What Sigil did she absorb?”

“Talk about it with her.” Alisha sat on the couch opposite Aria, leaning forward. “On to more important matters.”

“There’s more?”

“Still so eager to get rid of me?”

“Go on.”

Alisha giggled but then shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s bad news... I suspect I’m facing no opposition to letting you participate in this tournament because they want to use it as an excuse to keep holding you back.”

“What does that entail?” 

“If you place high, they’ll probably try to make it out like you’re too strong and shouldn’t get a Sigil until your peers catch up to you.”

Aria lightly scoffed. “Absurd.”

What kind of twisted logic was that? At the end of the day, she was only stronger because of her experience and talent. If anybody on Earth practiced some form of martial art and had her level of talent, it would be a more than fair fight. In fact, Annabelle would be a prime contender with a little more training. Or... she would have been.

“You terrify a lot of people, Aria, and that animosity has only increased since pairing you with Annabelle.”

“What does she have to do with it?”

Alisha sighed, shaking her head helplessly. “She isn’t my golden goose; she’s Bastion’s—they discovered her, not me. Some think your partnership will produce extraordinary results, and some think you’ll ruin her.”

“Is she... that important?”

Aria had yet to learn why Annabelle was treated like that. She had talent, but that was impossible to predict until after awakening. Her parents could be classified as the elite on Earth, but that shouldn’t matter to Bastion. The only thing she could think of was that she had a relative high up in Bastion command. At a minimum, someone who was a Commander.

“I can’t say more than that, but just know that even I’m not aware of the full reason behind her treatment.” She snorted and shook her head in disbelief at her own words. “Me. A Vanguard.”

Aria gravely nodded. “Understood. But why bring Annabelle up?”

“Think about it.” Alisha tapped her head. “If she works with you as a supporter, those against you would have to take great care of how they choose to intervene, lest they risk the ire of people far above them. Some don’t give a damn about you, but if they somehow hurt Annabelle… even I would use that as a convenient excuse.”

That made sense, but it didn’t sit well with Aria. 

“I don’t want to use her.”

Alisha leaned back. “You’ll be her partner either way. Plus, she needs you just as much as you need her. Who knows when she’ll get a battle-capable Sigil? This is a near-perfect mutually beneficial relationship.” She nodded proudly at her own actions. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was fate.”

That made more sense. Annabelle would heavily rely on luck, so she would need someone like Aria to depend on for competitions. A mantle Aria would happily take, especially after finding out she wouldn’t get a Sigil.

“I’d like to talk more, but we shouldn’t.” Alisha hopped off the couch, then went to her door. “The staff knows I’m back, and I don’t want to deal with bastards bugging me about you spending private time with me... well, more than you already have.”

“Understood,” Aria left her seat with the paper in hand. “I—... we will win this tournament.”

Of that, she had little doubt.

Alisha nodded, almost like a proud parent. “Just be wary of underhanded tactics, at least until my control is solidified over this damn place.”

And with that, it was time to see Annabelle for the first time in over a week. 

Aria felt oddly nervous about it.