Chris Gordon and I represent one half of the partnership that is responsible for this opportunity,” he said, as if no one in the room had seen a television screen, newpaper, or magazine cover in the last few months. “I’ll go ahead and apologize upfront. I believe I’ve met many of you before but I’ve had a little accident. It seems that my brain met a bullet a while ago and I haven’t gotten all my memories back yet. They’re coming slowly, but please don’t be offended if I don’t remember you.
“With that out of the way, let me welcome you to college or, as Oracle likes to call it, College Arcane.”
A hand shot up and Chris looked at its owner, a brown-haired girl with glasses and a super excited look on her face.
“Ah, yea?” he asked.
“What do the words mean? The ones that make up ARCANE?” she asked.
“Good question. I had to ask to find out for myself. Oracle loves this acronym shit… hmm, excuse my language... oh what the hell, you’re all in college now, right?” The kids all laughed.
“Anyway, anomalous means rare or aberrant. Recondite has several meanings: hidden from sight, not well understood, obscure. Combatives… well, to be frank, we’re hoping to teach you how to protect yourselves and others. Lastly, Oracle ranks talents and abilities among the trained and untrained. The highest untrained ranking is Noble echelon—sort of a guess at your potential. There, clear as mud, right?”
“What are the trained rankings?” the same girl asked.
“Gina?” Chris turned.
“Paladin, Knight, and Champion echelons. We will go over this as we progress throughout the year,” she said.
“So there you have it… you’re in an academy. For what? To learn to survive and thrive as representatives of the supernatural realm. Why would we do this? That part is simple. At the end of your education, you will be prime candidates for recruitment by Oracle as operatives, should you chose that route, or recruitment by the Demidova Corp. Personally I’m more than a bit biased for the corporate path. But if you prefer the government path, you have Oracle. You are also completely free to pick neither of those choices, but to forge your own path.”
“Would you recommend Oracle even after what they did to you?” Jetta blurted out, loud enough for everyone to hear. The room froze, all noise stopping instantly. I’m not sure anyone was even breathing as the room waited for his response.
Chris stood still for a second, his jaw muscle jumping a bit. Then he turned to look at his questioner and I swear to God his purple eyes flashed lighter for a second. Ah, now I understood the undercurrent… he was pissed… deeply, thoroughly pissed and I was pretty sure I could guess the direction of his anger.
“You’re Jetta?” he asked. She nodded. I couldn’t see her face but her shoulders and neck betrayed her sudden tension.
“Well, I not sure that I’m the one to give Oracle a rousing endorsement, but if you’re determined to go government, there are much worse choices. See, Oracle answers to the President and at the end of the day, they were just following orders. And while I will not be telling you exactly what happened, I will tell you that it will never happen again,” he said. The teachers in the front row were frozen and the Oracle agents near the doors had turned to stone.
“But there are good people in that organization, some of whom I owe big time,” he said, turning and looking at the witch girls. Or rather at the pair sitting above the witch girls. The young-looking brunette blushed and squirmed just a little bit. I studied her for a moment before looking back at Chris, only to meet his eyes straight on. He gave me the tiniest of nods before continuing. Bewildered, I nonetheless was aware that several people in the audience might have caught that little exchange.
“Your teachers come from Oracle as well and represent a tremendous amount of experience,” he said with a smile, his eyes still hard. “Experience that you all need.”
The anger was still there, just buried, simmering. “So, to sum it up, you may get a job offer from our company or the government or both or neither. Our real goal is to see that you all have the skills to stay alive and prosper. Our world, the one that till recently has been confined to the shadows, is a very dangerous place. Exposure has not changed that,