Mrs Rebecca Varrich examined Taslin from a distance, he had a tall muscular build, with brown eyes and a handsome face, his features closely resembled the phenotype of African ancestry with a refined edge to it. He kept a well groomed high afro. It was faded around the back of his ears and head. Mrs Rebecca Varrich had observed his movement from the start. The Solis boy was a ruthless individual, she had caught herself tempted to intervene each time he downed a student. She had seen her fair share of young psychopaths but this was new. Something primal. The boy had behaved like a hunter, was incredibly paranoid and observant. She used her Kosokon second brain to scan him, he had very few argumentations, she felt sorry for him and then wary, she had seen how dangerous he was. No better than the average human but he had exhibited incredible speed and agility. She paced forward, the Elzar school of magical arts and retribution prided itself on teaching the way of conquering to augmented men and women but she had learnt as a little girl from her father, Hudson Varrich that anyone that could perform in any field, at any complex action and yet Taslin seemed advanced in how he moved. She was no stranger to his records and how he came into his scholarship. She smiled to herself at how the commonfolk outside the academy gates believed in magic. There was no magic, just a bunch of old augmented individuals that had weaned from the true ideal that birthed Reola, Innovation and guile. The tradeoff was giving flight to folks that installed grav wiring around their bodies like children to allow them to bend and manipulate the gravitational fields of the planet. Decadence everywhere and an affront to Reola's image. Power without honour and duty to ground it, decayed.
"Why didn't you kill them?" Mrs Rebecca Varrich asked.
"It wasn't beneficial," Taslin said.
"What if it was?" Mrs Rebecca Varrich retorted. Her delicate features sharpened gradually. Eyes narrowing in toll.
"It wasn't." Taslin said. A hint of a frown creeping along his brow.
"Why so? There are no cameras within Marghot, you could have killed Dietru and Nostrom and earned extra credit" she said.
"I didn't want to," he said.
"Do you have a code?" she asked.
"I stopped having one when I learned how outmatched I was from birth," he said.
"How so?" she asked. Her curiosity peaked. Taslin was a unique puzzle to her. The first day of the trials for the scholarship even then. Taslin had arrived early. Very early. He was pacing by the white marble columns, while suspicious—his appearance was unobtrusive. Taslin had been dressed in the assigned black uniform; neat and tidy, with formal boots with metal soles. There was nothing that could be assumed by what he was wearing as to his purpose of being there, only that he was always prepared, always ready. He had greeted her and she had thought nothing of him after, till the slaughter started, nothing but a Rylanium sword. He was a different person in battle. Merciless but taking no pleasure in the task.
"As you already know, I have no augmentation that provides me with an offensive ability," he said. Taslin left out his regeneration by way of millions of nanites within every inch of his blood. It was a secret kept and guarded by house Solis and if the perch allowed Mrs Rebecca the omnipresent nature within Marghot, then she had probably seen him heal Nephla. Or perhaps she had glanced away at the moment?
Mrs Rebecca stood patiently and watched him. Searching for the words.
"That is true, I hope to see more of you in the coming weeks, Taslin" Mrs Rebecca said. And turned to leave. Taslin watched her leave. Her white suit fitted her well.
***
Back in his room Taslin finished his meal and then sharpened his matte black Rylanium sword, after which he spoke with Jerr, a private forger to provide him with a fake passport. Taslin needed to leave at the end of the week to Margrave, a wealthy city known for its influx of rich Sun-patricians and Sun-palatines during the coming festivals. Jerr was one of the six forgers on Reola he kept close contact with through a dynamic routing host of proxies via his smartphone. He allowed the routing number to change before placing the call to Jerr. He always tracked all the black-market salesmen, the Paleo-eugenists both ethical and unethical. Taslin kept track of such specialists in the same way he kept track of forgers and arms dealers. Only amateurs waited until they needed one before doing the research.
The line connected.
***
On the train, Taslin sat with his digital tag, his passport was John Grey, a small-time business merchant visiting Margrave for pleasure. He played the part, and made small talk with the passengers, he had a prosthetic DNA mask that changed his visage and appearance to that of a mid eastern Arab, the technology was illegal and only known to a select few and those on the anon back channels. Taslin thought about it, how much respect one inspired was the result of how much they could endure. No army followed a leader that led from behind. Every encounter was a battle over mastery of the self and the events they couldn't control. Resilience and composure against adversity. He scoffed, perhaps that is why their species have continued to perpetuate. Not everyone could be strong but a few would always be enough to galvanize the many. Being able to endure through arrant hardship and grit commanded a sort of pull over a group. Failing to hone this skill provoked a different reaction. People would never admit it but by instinct are always in a constant reassessment of those around them. Prowess was magnetic. Incompetence was not a choice. Taslin yawned as though bored and effortlessly switched seats at a checkpoint station in Rague, a fishing town, to throw off shadows, operatives that worked for Navdev, while the Kaatar-Imperators served the Sun Emperor. Shadows were more akin to the Old Earth police. A shadow could be law enforcement otherwise known as Wardens or a freelancer, a hired gun. Either way there was nothing Taslin could do if they caught him unaware and dragged him into an alley to slice out every secret he knew. Shadows sometimes worked as duos at worst or trios at best. Although groups as large as eight weren't unheard of. But his counter measures were robust at throwing off surveillance.
Taslin wanted to skip the Cephalos mining town but he always randomised his journey against his destination and decided to stop at Cephalos because the sun was shining and because why not? He stayed in a corner at a diner for three hours watching the door and the patrons and left when the music started. Taslin took a train to the Stallis Republic just because he had counted two Malanni stewardess with the same black choker around their neck at a brothel and saw children laughing through the streets. On the train to the Stallis Republic, Taslin doubled back to the checkpoint at Rague because he had tossed a gold coin to decide on it—the goal was to get tails five times in a roll—it had been an hour before such a criterion had been met. Taslin finally took a one-way trip to Woodling. He stayed for two nights at a hotel and bribed the reception to give him access to the available digital registry of every guest. The receptionist was no older than him and didn't care about such a suspicious request. Taslin was grateful as he sat in his room and skimmed through the encrypted digital file to find the name. Tobass Iro. A business-barron that dealt in banking was to be visiting Margrave also for pleasure like Taslin, but Taslin will have the pleasure of killing him.