Education through experience

[Arlon]

Inside a classroom in Grinadia a pale skinned, blonde haired male Miqo’te wearing glasses sat behind a desk that was facing the classroom. One of the students raised their hand. “Mr. Genji”(Mr. G for short), What if the spell is finished before the recommended cast time?”

 

The teacher stood up from his seat, and started to pace back and forth in front of his students as he answered, a habit that he was trying to break but when his brain was working on complex calculations he couldn’t sit still. “I dare say” he answered. “Throw out the recommended cast times and pay attention on the wound itself.”

 

“But the book says..” one of the other students started.

 

“I don’t care what the book says!” Aki’to snapped back with his fist balled at his side. He let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry…” he said softly as he regained his composure. 

 

“If you close the wound before the recommended cast time then that’s it, stop! If you keep casting then cell regeneration will continue endlessly and you will end up giving your patient a tumor that won’t stop growing.” He stopped for a few seconds. “Trust me, it’s nasty and not easily cured” he said, sounding like he was speaking from experience. 

 

He looked out the window at the setting sun, then to his classroom full of students. “Class dismissed” he said quickly. He heard some of his younger students grumbling about homework and he stepped in front of them before they could leave. “You know about the seventh umbral era, right?” Both students nodded, though they were too young to remember it happening. “Do you know why that happened?” he asked, crossing his arms. They shrugged a bit, they knew that it had happened but not the reason for it. “King Bahamut was sent down to punish all the kids who didn’t do their homework!” he said as he tried to keep a straight face, he had to turn his head away because he had a smirk on his face. Both children quickly ran out of the classroom and had a new motivation to do their assigned work.

 

A female miqo’te entered the room behind the fleeing students where Aki’to was sitting at his desk, looking over notes and papers. “You’re terrible!” she said jokingly. “I know” he said without looking up at her.

“You remember, don’t you?” she asked him, half sitting on the corner of his desk. After a long pause, he answered “Yes… I remember”

 

Five years earlier..

 

A short while after the devastating assault of king Bahamut on the world, white mages, even conjurers still in training, were sent out to aid in the recovery of the countless injured the attack. On the battlefield, Eorzean soldiers were still fighting back the Garlean forces.

 

A soldier was dying on the ground. His vision as fading but he could see the white swirling aura of one standing in front of him. It was the healing aura of a white mage casting a spell. Healing energy gathered at the fallen soldier and his wounds began to close. 

 

“W..Who are you?” The soldier slowly opened his eyes, looked up and asked the one helping him. Looking down to the fallen man, the white mage now knew that full recovery was possible, which was a relief. “Aki’to Genji” the pale skinned Miqo’te said plainly, he would have been more gracious in answering but he needed to concentrate.

 

Aki’to looked over his shoulder, seeing three Garlean soldiers approaching quickly. “It’s only a white mage” they thought. Easy prey, right? The Miqo’te slowly stood up with his back to the soldiers. He turned his head to the side, looking over his shoulder at them and his ears were perked up. Blonde hair hung over his eyes as he looked at them; he had already dubbed them “the fools”.

 

The air around the Garlean soldiers started to thin as the surrounding area turned pitch black. The only ones that existed in this space were the white mage and the three soldiers.  They found that they couldn’t move but it didn’t matter. A white pillar of light quickly appeared between them, white orbs circling quickly around the pillar. When the orbs met each other in the middle they exploded in a burst of magical energy, destroying the soldiers. The blast caused Aki’to’s hair and robe to blow around wildly and then settle. He had a stoic expression on his face as the area faded back to normal. He walked to the injured soldier, using his remaining energy to heal him completely.  Explosions could be heard in the distance. The air was filled with smoked, ash, and the stench of death.