#Clara Aether#
A boy, this will definitely be hard. I thought while I walked circles through hallways. Beside me was Isla, my lifelong friend that had been with me since I was four. Six years was the length of our friendship, and it will be six more in this school. Hallways were, contrary to my belief, always crowded even when the school was ten times the size of my palace. The twin towers always loomed high in the sky, casting a crossing shadow in the school's back courtyard that could be seen from most windows.
Boys, I knew, were unmannered animals. At least the ones I knew. I shivered at the recollection of another unfortunate incident.
"You got someone in mind?" Isla popped up, seemingly unaware of her thoughts.
"You think?" I blandly stated. Were there any decent boys? Of course not. Creatures that loved to show off their muscles in a stadium were utterly useless in my opinion.
"I give up," I sighed, "there's no way we'd be getting our hopes high." The best bet was to do all the work. Whether I liked it or not would be a different matter. I did vaguely thought about inviting a classmate but thoroughly rejected my impulse. It would cause a misunderstanding.
"Clara what do you say about going on a little trip to town?" Isla nudged, seemingly worried. "It's nice to loosen yourself from time to time."
I reluctantly nodded. It'd be fine to take a rest after our hard work. We headed downtown before night fell. An abundance of food we ate and accessories we bought, there was nothing more relaxing than being exhausted from shopping, at least in their eyes.
We clumsily laid our bags on a bench and sat down with tired hands that carried kilograms of weight for hours. I had not been free like this nor had I considered this freedom. Something only a friend could give. Was it happiness?
Isla panted after letting go of her baggage. She was a magician, not a warrior. But why is she not tired?
There was silence, as our breaths filled the gaps between until the other spoke up first.
"Thank you"
Isla responded with a surprise, "It's basic"
I loosened up and reeled my head back toward the sky. "I'm glad I get to spend time with you like this. I don't get much time like this. This is… a nice change."
Just when Isla opened her mouth to respond, a deafening sound erupted out of nowhere. A force enough to scade anyone in earshot. The sound of screaming, the radiance of heat, and the sparks of fire. Just what had happened?
We instinctively rushed in the opposite direction where everyone fled, to the commotion.
A blanket of ash clouded the air and obscured our visions like smokescreens. I heard cries for help in every direction and hesitated to choose one. Because doing so would mean neglecting the other.
Better than not doing anything.
Isla held her arms in front making a circular shape, palms radiating blue energy. Mana. At the centre of the imaginary sphere, little clumps of water gathered around, flying detached from the wind, swirling in a violent vacuum with the shape of a tornado. Letting out a grunt, Isla released her hands, a mild cyclone coming out, sucking all the fog and ash. The fire, once roaring, had calmed down akin to a campfire
I could see the civilians now. One. Two. Three. They both lay flat on the concrete floor, colouring a patch of dark red on the ground, oozing. She reached out to the family of two, a mother and child both immobile, and touched the sides of their necks. Their heartbeat still intact. A good sign.
I laid them down on the ground while tilting their heads up slightly to prevent blood regurgitation. i had practised this many times on dolls, I just had to recall the exercise.
Except. They weren't dolls. They were living beings, humans just like her. I stopped and hesitated. What would happen if they died?
Of course I would be responsible.
My hands froze. I looked down at the unconscious two and spotted a hint of red on the sides of their forehead. I carefully tilted their foreheads for inspection and felt my hand meet something warm.
Something red. Something Blood.
Blood? I shrieked as I glanced at the exposed the injuries and screamed. "Help!" and screamed again, this time Isla came hurriedly in question.
Surprise filled her face as she saw the wounds, a gasp escaping her mouth.
Moments later the guards came rushing to the corroded part of town, a group of silvered knights marched in and inspected the explosion.
"Argos knight squadron 3! What happened here?"
Still shell-shocked, I responded weakly. Humiliatingly.
⁜⁜⁜
#Marcus Laurier#
The explosion last night killed several.
That's what I heard from others gossip around the school which would get to the other side of the school before I could walk there. Information travels fast. It was everywhere. In courtyards, classrooms and even in toilets where people elaborated on conspiracy theories.
Wallace on the other hand seemed unfazed and continued to strut on his merry way on his quest to find a girl. I had never been in a more embarrassing situation than to watch Wallace 'propose' to the girls in our year. It made him look like a laughingstock and all his friends, to some extent, would be treated like a maniac or a psycho.
We're not going to find anyone at this rate
Wallace spotted his next victim and sped his pace. I quickly held Wallace by his shoulder in an attempt to spare the oblivious females. "What seems to be the problem friend?"
"We should think about this more strategically," I bluffed, "we're getting nowhere."
My good friend nodded and lost interest in his target. "What are we going for then?"
"What do you mean going for?"
"Do we go for looks or smarts?" Wallace blandly stated, "both?"
I stared at him dumbfounded. Could I have made the wrong connection?
I stared at the Wallace as he walked straight to the courtyard with determination. Oh I pray, good friend, for your fortune. As if jinxing it, I saw a blinding flash of light from the courtyard seconds later.
I rushed around the corner for my friend and expectantly found Wallace lying on the floor. Oh, my friend why has this happened to you. I chuckled to myself, picking him up and dragging him to the dorm.
The idea was, that we had no way of getting any other person on our team simply because of how Wallace acted as a special deterrent for girls for annoying people. They spent the week scouring the school grounds, attending class and when they were not, they stayed in the library.
The project was to start soon and they had four days to fill up the remaining spots before they start falling behind. I sighed at the thought and pressure. Was there any chance for them?
I think back to what Wallace said when he pleaded to the teacher. Did he really dislike girls? Or was it his awkwardness with women?
Wallace's stomach gurgled.
We ate at 3 pm when the sun gradually descended into rest. Every day around this time in summer, the sun would align at the centre of the twin towers and peak on the cone's tip, creating a manifestation people called the 'twilight'. An ancient concept where the reef between day and night would clear. Magic could not explain this, it was just the world speaking its language towards them, even when magic was the world's language.
This was complemented by loud crunches and delightful moaning from Wallace while he wolfed down loaves after loaves of bread.
⁜⁜⁜
"We still haven't addressed the problem," I said with sorrow while Wallace slacked on the top bed, "it starts in three days. I wouldn't care which girl we pick as long as we fill the headcount."
"We still need to take the smart ones a priority."
I eyed Wallace through the bottom of his bed. "Yes but we can't be that picky. All the smart ones should've been taken or formed their own groups."
"Yes and we have to find two…" Wallace whined, putting his magic tome on his forehead, "we have class tomorrow, so maybe we can see if anyone in our class is not taken first."
I turned off the lights and let silence fill the room.
Odd silence, filled with the thoughts he had pondered for the whole day.
"Wallace did you hear about the bombing?"
It was abrupt, a question that Wallace wasn't expecting before his sleep.
"The one that killed a hundred people?"
"It's weird. There's no way the security of Argos is this bad?"
"No joke, the knights here are at least rank five," Wallace responded, "But it's impossible to stop every single attack from terrorist groups and such just because they're fifth ranked".
"But—"
"No buts man, we gotta look for the other half of our team tomorrow. Rest up cause we have a big day." Wallace dismissed.
I had a lot running through my head, with thoughts and assumption unconsciously made. Later concluding to accept it.
A coincidence.
⁜⁜⁜
"You have two days until it's due." Teacher Bradford announced while the rest of us sat in rows, sharing desks between two, "You may have heard of the bombing recently, and for that exclusive reason, no student will be allowed off-campus during night-time. All students are to return before 5pm." Teacher Bradford eyed us with suspicion.
"Why?" A voice spoke up loud and deep.
"Because of the incident two days ago." He pulls out the magical news article and wrote a headline into he board.
"If it were just a simply bombing incident, they would not need to cover it up. The city knights should have taken care of it, so why are we taking precautions?"
Marcus couldn't blame the swordmaster, after all, they were Luxom's most prestigious knight order.
"That reason," I listened closely to the words of the professor, "is classified. You'll have to wait until it's released to the public."
A moan and a groan and everything was back to the mana fundamentals.
"A reminder that groups of four must be formed by tomorrow! Two gentlemen and two Ladies!"
I scanned around the class for any leftover people for our group. And all Wallace had to do was to invite two girls over as if it was no big deal. No big deal.
"All you have to do is walk over there and talk to them. No biggie." Wallace stared at me with appreciation.
Ah yes there were two girls. Who was it? The blonde one. Wait I'm doing the talking?
"Oh Marcus!" Isla came after noticing us, "You found your group yet?"
"No…" Wallace stares into empty space trying his best imitation of a stone, "b-but maybe if you'd like…" Wallace trails off and silently passes away.
"Wallace come on" I was slightly worried for my sulking friend, "speaking of finding a group, we're wondering if you would want to be a part of our group?" biting my tongue in hopes of finally ending our search.
"sure we'd love to, but we want to know what you're thinking of doing. My partner there is picky." Isla points to Clara in her seat, staring at an open window.
"we don't have a plan yet."
"If you want to discuss plans you'll have to discuss it with Clara." She turns her to head to face us.
"You two are?"
"Marcus Laurier."
Silence. I stared at my partner as he looks up in awe at the noble. I nudge him and he doesn't respond. "And my humble friend"
"W-Wallace, pleased to meet your acquaintance!" he bows down to right angles.
"Wallace Kennedy," I state for my friend, "if you don't mind we would like to form a group with you."
Clara stares at us as if she's inspecting us for any diseases. "you guys are rank 2 and 3 yes?" she says after examining us. We nod in response.
Immediately, she stares at us eye to eye. I feel myself waiver.
Contempt. Expectation. Gravity multiplied itself and we were brought to our knees. My head could only look down on the floor, yet I could feel her gaze. Staring at us as if we were rats. When will this be over?
"I suppose you'll do, meet here tomorrow morning before school, I'll be seeing you later."
Clara walks out the door and the heavy atmosphere lifts as if gravity returned back to normal. The presence of a high noble. She's telling us not to mess with her.
Wallace recollects himself, slightly dazed from earlier, he catches his breath and we go back to our dorm to rest.
We've got a partner now.
What was reassurance was replaced with doubt.
⁜⁜⁜