Authors: Cassandra Clare,Joshua Lewis

Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Lifestyles, #City & Town Life, #Fantasy & Magic, #Social Issues, #New Experience, #Paranormal

The Shadowhunter's Codex (7 page)

The largest single witchlight crystal in the world can be found in the Silent City in the form of the Angelic Colossus, a representation of the Triptych, the familiar motif of Raziel ascending from the water wielding the Mortal Instruments. The crystal stands roughly thirty feet tall, and it guards (and lights) the entrance to the Silent Brothers’ living quarters. The Colossus is rarely seen by anyone other than the Silent Brothers, however, and those interested in large installations of witchlight are encouraged to visit the Institute of Cluj, where the renowned Vampire Arch forms the threshold to the Institute. For many years it was thought that humans infected with vampirism were sensitive to natural and holy light and would recoil from it; the Arch was built under the belief that it would protect the Institute from infected humans. We now know this not to be true, but the Arch remains as a symbol of the Cluj Institute’s dedication to the Angel.

Or maybe they just like hurting vampires a lot.

Definitely that. Those Cluj guys are crazy.

See this is why you are a useful teacher. I get the inside scoop.

I believe I mentioned something about you two and a room a few pages ago?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND THINGS TO TRY

1. What’s your everyday carry? What might you add to it to cover your new Shadowhunter responsibilities?

Wallet, watch, phone, stele, pencils, sketchbook, waterproof fine-tip pen for inking, pencil sharpener, witchlight, mint lip balm.

I hear chapped lips are a leading cause of death in Shadowhunters. My turn! Wallet, watch, phone, bass picks, pens, notebook, dice of various kinds, little cloth thingie to clean glasses with—except I don’t wear my glasses anymore, huh, I guess I don’t need to carry the cloth around anymore—super-nerdy pocketknife.
Aaaand lip balm. Don’t even lie. You reek of strawberry right now.

2. What weapon might you like to specialize in? What about it draws your attention? Alas! My secret shame revealed!

Go ahead, say “rapier wit.” I know you want to.

RAPIER WIT FINE YES that is what I was going to say because I am so funny.
Poor Simon.

Anyway, I have no idea of an answer to this question, and frankly, Codex, this kind of question is the least of my problems right now. I would like to specialize in not being nearly killed yet again.

I would like to specialize in being an immortal invulnerable killing machine who craves the blood of the living.

COMBAT TRAINING

Once you have familiarized yourself with the tools of the Shadowhunter, you must begin to learn the Shadowhunter’s arts: combat, stealth, agility, endurance.

It surprises most new Shadowhunters to learn that there is no single set of skills that define us as warriors. We are found all over the globe, just as demons are found all over the globe. As such, there are as many varieties of Shadowhunter combat style as there are varieties in the mundane world. Typically you will undergo training in several different fighting styles, often selected from across human culture, and you will naturally find the styles that most appeal to you and with which you are most effective. You will be likely to study Western combat style, Eastern martial arts, and often stylized combat sports such as fencing or judo. There is a vast common ground of physical ability and prowess underlying almost all of these styles, and so as a new Shadowhunter you should expect to spend plenty of time on basic training to enhance your strength, speed, flexibility, and so on, before you have so much as picked up a weapon.

Marks may be used to enhance physical traits, but this is not typically done during training, and Marks cannot substitute for the muscle memory that the body learns through repetition and practice.

Our emphasis on learning from a wide range of sources is supported by a tradition whereby when Shadowhunters advance to majority at eighteen years old, they often travel and spend time in residence at an Institute well away from their home. There is great variation in local Shadowhunter cultures, both in philosophy and in specific techniques. Shadowhunters who have grown up in Idris are especially encouraged to travel, since the protected environment of Alicante may not prepare them for the harsh realities of the mundane world.

The newly made Shadowhunter, too, should seek to travel during her training, if at all possible. There is no obvious occasion to mark as there is with born Shadowhunters becoming adults, so talk with your Institute head or local Enclave about scheduling.

A PHILOSOPHY OF WAR

The first Shadowhunters, including Jonathan himself, dreamed of a world where someday their people would not need to be warriors. David the Silent, especially, loathed fighting and violence, and he wrote eloquently of the Nephilim’s main mission to “discover Peace upon all the World.” It’s believed that the Silent Brothers were, in fact, founded with the primary mission of reversing the great evil acts of Sammael and Lilith, and closing our dimension again to demons. This philosophy continued to guide the Silent Brothers for hundreds of years. Brother Christopher de Sevilla could still write, in 1504, that the Nephilim’s job was to “obsolete ourselves” by “driving the horde back and sealing the doors behind them.”

The fact, however, is that a thousand years of work and research has brought us no closer to understanding how Sammael and Lilith accomplished their great Incursion, much less to discovering how it can be reversed. The thread of hope that the endless demonic horde could be turned back has frayed and is now so thin in Shadowhunter culture as to have nearly disappeared. Most believe today that if the demonic tide is to be turned, it will be Heaven’s doing, not ours. Our role is to stand behind the open gates and turn them back one by one. And so we fight.