Have you ever fallen in love with someone at first sight? The question came out of left field, I suppose. Don't worry if you can't answer.
I've never experienced that type of attraction for anyone, so I doubted it even existed. But as of late, I'm beginning to think that it might be a real thing.
Ah, but before you let your mind wander off, I just want to tell you that I didn't fall in love with anyone out of the blue. I'm a tender, sensitive young man with feelings, but I'm no fool.
It's just that, well, I think that someone might've fallen in love with me at first sight. I wouldn't have a problem with this situation, but this is a unique case, you see.
She's kind of a handful, this 'lady' of sorts, to the point that I've become concerned for my life.
I'm pretty sure that a demoness has fallen for my dastardly charms, given that I was kidnapped today...by her. I'm serious. Don't laugh.
...
My first, honest impression of her was that she was a figure that'd I never be able to reach. She had a gorgeous face and a beautiful voice that drew in everyone. There was this natural charm about her that pulled people's attention towards her.
I heard that she was a passionate woman who walked her own path; she bulldozed through life and as a result, had angered a lot of people.
I couldn't deny her beauty and charm, but those same qualities also scared me.
She was too perfect; I thought that being around someone like her would scorch me into cinders. I assumed that we weren't of the same species.
I was just trying to get my affairs in order; my initial dream was to retire early and live peacefully.
In comparison, this princess was a being that could fight conquerors as a contender. She must have put in a ridiculous amount of effort to have been blessed to such an extent.
A speck of dirt in front of a mountain - that was the feeling I got from looking at her. Not a very manly thing to say, but it was the truth.
It had been a couple of days since we had returned from the training mountain. The instructors had some kind of important task they needed to focus on and had left the group on break.
But just as everyone got comfortable with their newfound freedom, we had been summoned. Astor looked particularly unwilling to move a step outside the dormitories and was forcibly dragged along by Horatio and Reed.
"Don't be like this, Astor. You spoke badly about her back then, but she can't be that bad. So what if she's a bit strong-willed?" Astor cackled as he fiercely struggled to escape.
"You dare offer sympathy? Hahaha! We'll see if you feel the same way after you meet her, fool!"
Horatio remained silent and did not speak a single word as they dragged their uncooperative prisoner. He looked colder than usual, almost as if he was preparing himself for something...
Sebastian laughed at Astor and pelted him with the usual - poisonous words. He smiled as he continued to torment his crestfallen rival who thrashed around like a wild beast.
Astrid and Ophelia seemed normal, but something seemed odd the more that Reed looked at them. They looked...too composed as they made small talk with one another in the distance.
He wondered why they had separated themselves from the boys, and assumed they must have had something important to discuss that could only be heard amongst the two of them.
Girl's talk, it seemed. The kind of arcane topics they discussed in secret was beyond him.
As the students eagerly waited for the arrival of their new instructor, hushed voices echoed across the auditorium.
"To think that we'd receive the honor of being taught by one of the North's greatest Anima shapers in modern times."
"She's only started her ascent into godhood less than a century ago, too. I heard a rumor that she wants to beat the record that her older brother set when he completed his ascent."
"The Winter Princess wants to beat the Crown Prince!? That does sound a lot like her, to be honest. There even might be a grain of truth in that rumor..."
"I actually heard an extension of that same rumor; they say that she's trying to beat her older brother's record as punishment for something he did to her."
"They say that he might've tried to play cupid for a prince of the east who wanted to court the Winter Princess, but there's no way such a stupid rumor could ever be true, right?"
Astor flinched when he heard the passing conversation and muttered in a hushed voice, "You lot have no idea what those two are capable of..."
Suddenly, a wave of pressure forced the auditorium into silence as a spatial tear opened up in front of them. A beautiful girl that looked no older than in her early twenties stepped out of the tear. Her long, black hair swung back and forth as the spatial tear closed.
As soon as the girl stepped out, she said, "Good afternoon, everyone. I, Violett Kingscrown, will in be in charge of teaching you the fundamentals of Anima for the foreseeable future. I look forward to seeing you all grow and become proud protectors of the North."
A pretty standard introduction; concise and straight to the point. But the issue was that no one paid attention to her words. They were too busy being overwhelmed by the sight of her.
Even I had to admit that she was breathtaking at first sight, but I knew better than to let myself get carried away. I felt the same way when I first saw Astrid and look at what happened then.
As the old saying went, "once bitten, twice shy." I made an oath to myself after that; to never let myself get carried away again...
Violett scanned over the class as she continued her speech and finally found something that interested her. The girl's azure eyes had locked onto Astor who had tried his best to blend in with the crowd. She noticed a familiar duo beside him as well and her eyes narrowed.
Astor kept his head down even after he knew he'd been seen and did not dare look at her in the eyes. Horatio bitterly smiled and awkwardly shook his head when he had been caught.
It looks like those three are going to get some special attention after this is over, huh. Sorry, but you're going to have to take one for the team, guys...
Looks like my reputation's finally worked its magic, eh? Once this whole 'chosen one' nonsense blows over, I'll be able to take it easy.
This esteemed princess wouldn't ever put a small figure such as myse-
.....
Hold up a second. Why is she still looking at our group? Rather, why is she still looking at Astor so intently... I should probably back off and get out her sight before she actually notices me. Heh.
Reed shuffled himself away from Astor and moved closer towards Horatio. His anxiety skyrocketed once he noticed something. Her eyes moved. Reed immediately denied the possibility.
Horatio caught on at the same moment and quickly shuffled away from Reed silently, abandoning him. By the time he noticed what happened, everyone had already disappeared into the crowd, taking the opportunity to blend themselves into the crowd separately.
Her eyes seemed like they were about fire out laser beams given how she looked at him. It was a hawk-like gaze that made him uncomfortable.
My situation at the time could be summed up in two words - no escape.
".....That's the gist of what you will be doing from now under my guidance. We will be heading to a specialized area created for your training, the Reef. It's a giant structure that collects Anima inside of it; the Anima density can be controlled inside, allowing novices to train without worries."
"I've already made the necessary preparations for our departure, so we'll be leaving by the end of the day. You have until the end of the day to assemble your belongings and report in at the Reef. The main altar has already been configured to send you there, so I needn't explain myself further, I assume."
A spatial tear opened up behind her and swallowed her whole as her voice echoed across the auditorium, "I look forward to seeing you all there as soon as possible..."
Astor popped out of the crowd and met me right after she had left. He shook his head with a nervous mien.
"Hey, bud, I think you might be fucked this time. I....don't know how you did it, but it's pretty clear that my older sister has her eyes set on you. The only time I've seen her look like that is when she's decided on something."
"What she's decided on is something that only the devil would probably know. Neither I nor my siblings can understand her thought process. She becomes irrational once she enters that state of mind. Might be something in her blood. Heard from my father that back in the day, the Moon King acted the same way during his rise to godhood."
If only I hadn't been put in that goddamned egg, none of this would have happened. I'd be on my merry way...
I'm getting further and further away from my dream as the days go by...
.....
We ended up in front of what looked like a giant sphere that lay beside a frozen coast. It was embedded into the coast itself and was half-submerged from the way it jutted out into the sea.
My description didn't do it justice, I feel. To put it the size of the sphere in perspective, the mountain that we had been on for the last half-year looked like a joke in front of this metallic monstrosity.
The exposed portion of the sphere was at least three times taller than the mountain, so if you accounted for the submerged part that laid under the sea, well, you get the idea, right? Who knows how they built this thing...
"But why is it partially submerged in the first place? It's not like it needs to be put out into the sea to work, right?"
Astrid shook her head and said, "They put it into the sea because it generates too much excess heat during its operation. Otherwise, we'd all get cooked to death. It was originally designed to be a weapon to kill something; what exactly that 'something' is, I do not know."
Ophelia quietly whispered, "My uncle told me that it was supposed to simulate the power of a star in theory if it worked, but no one aside from the likes of the Goddess had the power to utilize such a mindboggling weapon like the sphere. It got decommissioned and was turned into a training facility to make use of it..."
A tender voice interjected and said, "You're only half-right, little Leah. I'll give 60 points for that answer. It was indeed built to be a superweapon, but.....I can't tell you, hehehe. You'll need to grow up a bit before you learn the whole truth." A beautiful girl quickly caught Ophelia and unintentionally strangled with her with a loving embrace.
Violett sighed as she continued expressing her affection and said, "It's been a while since I've seen you, lil' bro. As always, you seemed blessed with fortune. You always get caught up in something entertaining one way or another... Am I wrong?" She glanced over at Reed and said, "it's not fair that you get all the fun while I have to go look for it myself..."
"A-Aren't you supposed to be waiting for inside the Reef, Violett?! There's no need to escort us, we can handle ourselves just fine!"
"I grew bored waiting for you all to show up," she walked over towards Reed and said, "you know, it's not a manly thing to keep a lady waiting."
"I-I beg your pardon? Keep a lady waiting? I don't understand..."
Violett latched onto his arm and said," Waiting for you to show up, of course, silly boy. That's why I came over here in the first place, to pick you up. If you don't mind, why don't we leave and go somewhere...private and have a nice chat?" She casually tore open a spatial tear and started walking, not even giving Reed a chance to respond.
It all happened so naturally that it left the group shocked. Astor, Astrid, and Ophelia were the first to react. They rushed to pull Reed away but were quickly frozen in place by an Anima wave.
"Jealousy is a terrible, ugly thing to see, you three," Violett said as she and Reed vanished into the void. The Winter Princess's soft chuckle only served to infuriate them even more as they vainly struggled to escape their imprisonment.
...
And just like that, I'd been kidnapped in one fell swoop by a princess.
Isn't it supposed to be the other way around in fairy tales? When did I become the damsel in distress...