I was cruising along the road to the school campus when something made me brake hard. I jumped out and casually walked over to the group of three men. The people seemed to be arguing about something, and one seemed to be trying to get something back from the others.
“Just give it back.” the smallest one asked.
“And who’s gonna make me?” said the brutish looking one on the right.
“I will.” I implied dangerously as I walked out of the shadows.
“And who is you?” said the slightly smaller stupid looking one who appeared to be drawing his sword, and I put my hand over the hilt.
“No weapons allowed out on campus,” I insisted, keeping him from drawing the blade
“So why should I listen to you? I’m a third year.” He says as he takes his hand off his hilt and attempts to throw a punch. Within the blink of an eye the scrawny tall kid who stood next to me watching this entire event unfold seamlessly caught the punch and countered with a jab to the gut.
“Layoff...We’re through here,” and with the Guys looking amazed at the shear speed of the thin kid they went away almost in as much shock as fear.
“Nice, kid, you’re pretty fast, for a magic user.” I prodded mockingly
The thin kid cocked his head to the side “How can you tell I use magic? What year student are you?”
“I’m a second year, and I took magic detection last year” I proclaimed.
“They have that here? Good god I’ve been missing out these past couple years.”
“No, need to be sarcastic, now.” I joked.
|---------------|
We were sitting in silence as my Jaguar sped along the road when thin the kid broke the silence.
“So we never did get around to introductions, my name is Naz’hir Achilles…Can I possibly, know your name?”
“Mine is Niklaus Kerbe.”
We arrived at school, and I took my position before the 400-something students, and the headmaster strolled out of the main building, booming to the audience “Welcome new students. Welcome to the School of Jägers.”
The headmaster proceeded to break the students into 4 person tour-groups, and I was stuck with thin kid, and some other kids.
“Let’s start with introductions” I decided.
“Zane… Zane Baroth,” One kid said with a hollow tone.
He had a wolf with him and was about 5’10” to 5’11”. He wore dark aviators, black jeans with what looked like a black sword handle hanging from it, a white hoodie, and had a wolf emblem hanging around his neck. He had spiky blond hair, and had red tattoos that looked like scars coming out from underneath his sunglasses. He seemed strangely far away.
“Well uh.. i’m Naz’hir.”
Thin kid was about 6’2 with a black cape that had a strap on the neck with red being on the inside. He wore jeans casually with a black shirt. Along with that he had white hair that hung to the left, he also had a sword that was clearly strapped to his back and it was also wide. But aside from that he had a giant white bengal tiger with him, usually tigers aren’t very loyal..
“I’m Niklaus Kerbe, and I will be your guide around the school.”
I was about 6’3”-6’4”, with shorter blackened hair with red highlights, floofed in the front slightly, and I was wearing a dark green shirt, with grey jeans and my black and brown Trenchcoat, casual wear, which was won last year from an older student who challenged me.
I started walking away, and the group hurried to follow my quick pace. We set off towards the dorms. We stopped between both of the dorms.
“This is where everyone stays first year, years two through four stay about 20 miles away, right near the gates, you may have seen it coming through to the school. lastly, years 5-6, who are grouped, stay about 9 miles east of here, more towards the academy.”
“So uh, one question.” Naz’hir asked
“What…” I said sarcastically.
“Where do the companions go?”
“Companions? Like this?” I lift up a leather covered arm as a hawk lands on it.
“Exactly.”
“Well, there is actually a Bird Building deeper in the forest.”
“Well I have a white bengal tiger that is bigger than a motorcycle.”
“Um... I think the Big Cat Building is farther back towards the other dorm area, about eight and a half miles from here” I explain, trying to not laugh at how far it is. “but companions usually aren’t used that much in this school, only for team takedowns, which you learn later in the school year.”
“If you follow me, we’ll get to the actual academy, where the learning takes place.” I say almost exasperatedly.
|--------------------------------|
“...We're almost done here.” I said in my a sarcastic tone.
“One question, Niklaus, sir.” Naz’hir implored.
“What’s up?”
“Where are our dorm rooms?” He persisted.
“Oh yes, well each person has their own room, lets see here...” I say as I take out my papers. “Ah, there you guys are, Naz’hir, you are in room 256, floor 7. Mr. Baroth, your in room 264, right down the hall, And finally, I’m in building Snaviyen, floor 9, room 213, if you have any questions.”
2: MissionIt seemed to just appear out of nowhere, one second Zane and I where walking through the mist, next thing I knew, there was a figure standing in front of us, and it seemed menacing. It stood around as tall as Niklaus and looked about the same size, but the major difference was the arms, the thing had blades instead of forearms and hands, from what I could see. Last thing I heard was a “woosh” noise and I was flat on my back, staring up at the thing that was now over us..
[Two weeks prior]
“... In near two weeks time, you and Zane will be leading a mission into the Frozen Marshes, the most dangerous place for a student to go. You will lead a group of 13 others, and take out the monster that lies in wait for you, even now.”
“Major Stidham, sir, what if we fail, sir?” I asked cautiously
“Then you will be dead, I presume.” The major responded gravely.
“Okaaay then.” I replied.
I made my way out of the higher-ups offices, and back down to student premises, where I met up with the weird blind kid - Zane.
“Major says were leading 13 others into the Frozen marshes, to hunt down an unknown, from what he told me thats all I could conclude to. What of a strategy, Zane?”
“Well….. We can make 3 of them into bait, stay hidden in the shadows, and attack when it goes for the heat signature of those three.” Zane said in a hollowed tone
“What about everyone else? We have ten others, us clumped around a clearing, trying to make three seem like 20 is useless, and why do you always go for the bait idea?” I lectured him.
“Well then... I’m out of idea’s, know anyone who can help us?” Zane asked, thinking deeply.
“Oh, lets go to our tour guy, what was his name?” I struggled to think.
“Niklaus.” Zane answered in his hollow voice.
“Oh yes, lets ask him, would you happen to know where he is about now?” I asked
“No, i haven’t seen him since the tour.” Zane replied in his hollow voice.
|-----------------------|
The duo set off towards the Snaviyen building to see if Niklaus was in his dorm. When they arrived, they impatiently knocked over and over until Niklaus answered the door.
|-----------------------|
“Wha- oh hey, its you guys.” he said tiredly
“Hey there, we need help on our upcoming test, and its do-or-die, so we need it quickly.” I explained as I started talking faster and faster.
“Slow down, greenie, I barely know you, so why would I want to help you?” Niklaus said through a yawn “Plus its 3 in the afternoon, and my off day, go bother a different upperclassmen.”
“We came here to ask because the Major said we could.” I lied.
“The major gave you greenies a mission? With who? Nevermind it, come in and tell me about it.” He suddenly looked wide-awake.
We went into his Dorm, it was an amazing three room area, amazing because it was tidy and nothing was misplaced, he had one wall completely devoted to his pictures and other papers needed, like “missions” from the academy. A mission is a “fancy” word for test at the academy, speaking of which his next one was about the same time as ours. He hastily moved to cover the papers, maybe because it was a mission each person does each year, and he had notes on it. We sat down on his couch, which took up the back wall, and he sat in one of his seats. We told him about us going to the Frozen Marshes and our company, and how we couldn’t think of a strategy.
“A strategy, huh? I wouldn’t know, what part of the Marshes? If its the Northern part, you’ll need to be waterproofed, southern you’ll need warm clothes, and the center sucks, its basically the north pole over there in the Marshes.”
“Then what do we do?” Zane asked, starting to get impatient.
“Well, you could…...Wait…....Yeah I got nothing.” Niklaus said with a thinking face on.
“Great, thanks.” I said with sarcasm dripping from my words.
“WAIT!! if you spread your people out, you can find it easier, use a system of flares so that you can figure out where the monster is,” he explained. “ When you find it, encircle it so that it has no means of escape, and be sure to bring a net with you, to capture it for the science labs.”
“We weren’t told to capture it, but to kill it.” Zane said, sounding slightly amused.
“I see, good luck then.” Niklaus then made us leave, mumbling something about sleeping.
[A week passed all good and well, until 6 days prior to the Mission.]
“What do you mean we can’t all have weapons?” I asked furiously. “If we all don’t, we’ll die or not all of us will make it back, especially the ones without the weapons.”
“Only 5 of you won’t have weapons, just put guards on them, treat them like civvies, that’s now part of it, make sure those 5 make it back.” The Major told us sternly “and make sure you don’t lead them wrong.”
“Thats not what we were told a week ago.” I replied, getting more angry by the second.
“Man up, Greenie.” The Major nearly yelled.
I straightened and saluted “Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed, Greenie.” The Major always spoke clearly.
I again left the higher-ups offices and went back to my dorm to consider what had just happened. Me and Zane were to lead a mission into a land we’ve never been with a third of our force unequipped and little to no plan. What we needed was help but we couldn’t get it because this was a test. We had to prove ourselves or die trying, and considering everything that was happening I was more and more worried it was going to be the latter. So I crashed into my bed next to my fireplace. I was classy I never really enjoyed a heater but the comfort that came from a fireplace. My dorm was two rooms, a bedroom and a bathroom. It wasn’t much but it was enough I had a table a TV and windows with curtains and blinds. Of course since I had the fireplace there was always a concern of the entire complex to burn down but with my wind powers I could always have blown it out the need arose. All I did for the next 6 days was sit around and practice until the time came for us to start our mission.
|--------------------------|
When the time came, we all mounted up, all of us in a different car except for the “civvies”. in all, the trip would take us a couple days at top speeds of 164 MPH, so we set off a few days early. When we arrived, we made an f.o.b and set up our one radio in a standard tent made for militaries around the world, and tents for the civvies and the Vanguard. The vanguard are front lines that take the heavy hits of the monsters. The few of us that had weapons had varying types, all the way from LMG’s to a Sword and shield. We made our way through the Marshes the next day, spread out about 30-40 meters apart, and almost 20-30 minutes after Trigger 6 went dark, along with Triggers 3 and 8.
Most of us made it to the inner ring of the Marshes, the ones that didn’t were Trigger 6, 9, 8, 3, and 5, in that order, and we only lost one “civvie” at this point. after roughly another hour and a half, the remaining civvies and Triggers went dark, and Zane and I were left in a coliseum-like-area.
It seemed to just appear out of nowhere, one second Zane and I where walking through the mist, next thing I knew, there was a figure standing in front of us, and it seemed menacing. It stood around as tall as Niklaus and looked about the same size, but the major difference was the arms, the thing had blades instead of forearms and hands, from what I could see. Last thing I heard was a “woosh” noise and I was flat on my back, staring up at the thing that was now over us. But it was different. It was Him.
Niklaus.
3: Monsters/SwordsI just stood there, Chrysaor and Godsbane in my hands, and I just went forwards and pushed Zane and Naz down, I knew that in the Marshes the wind king has no control, so Naz has no power here, besides his Sword. I resheathed Chrysaor and Godsbane to talk to the two greenies in front of me.
“Why are you here?” Zane asked, weirdly calm.
“I’m on a mission, why are you two here?” I replied.
“We came here to take care of an unknown, and we still need to find it, and take it down, like we told you.” Naz told me about the mission.
“Yeah, no, the mission is a test of power between you two, but also against a stronger opponent, thats me.
“Come on then, attack us.” Zane was still weirdly calm.
Naz was first, considering he had no power, he wasn’t as fast as he usually was, but still nearly matching me in speed still. He unsheathed his sword and it almost instantly was a wind blade. The reason it didn’t count for wind magic was because it was only a blade, unable to make magic, it was simply a blade. I retaliated by moving out of the way of his first slice, and quickly drawing HellReaver, my M48 spec ops knife, the only modern weapon I had, at 16 inches, it was basically a shortsword. We traded blows for a while, at the same time Naz using more and more energy to defend as well as attack. I eventually overcame him and Shoved him under a tree, and Zane went over to him, telling him something, and I left them to it.
I heard something off to the right, and i awkwardly stumbled through the frozen water and tree roots and dead limbs, until i came to a clearing, in which was a lumbering figure that seemed about a foot or so taller than me. It had a body like an old man, thin and bony. It had claws about 10-12 inches long, 5 to a hand, and was covered in pale white fur, except where the heart was, it was covered in translucent thick skin, which showed a giant blue heart, beating about once a minute. I put away HellReaver and went for my swords, thought better of it and took out Hellreaver again. It was smaller and more agile. I charged it with a war cry, alone, thinking my personal motto: “Vitesse Et Puissance” meaning: Speed and Power in french, it was perfect.
I jumped on the things back, I didn’t know much about monsters, but I knew this one from experience, it was a Wendigo, fast and powerful, it was terribly outmatched to me. A Wendigo is an L-class monster, nearly too powerful for me, if i get cornered by this, Eliza would have to use violence to kill it. I’m trying to teach her to not be so violent. I’ll tell about her later. I knew Eliza was somewhere in the trees, watching over me in case I’m in trouble.
I jumped on the Wendigos back, and since they travel in packs, i might just be screwed, because the Greenies were off playing don’t pass out, and i needed help. I stayed out of reach of its mouth and claws, and stabbed it in the shoulders and back repeatedly, until it collapsed from exhaustion. I stuck my knife through its back where its heart was, stood up, and stomped the knife through the beast’s back, it wailed a terrible wail, and soon Naz and Zane were at the location, but so were other Wendigos.
The Wendigo under me had died soon enough, because my knife was a mix of many metals, normal and abnormal, including a layer or two of silver. Zane and Naz held off the other two Wendigo’s while i wrenched my knife from the first ones chest. Once the knife was clear of the Wendigo, i yelled for the others and told them to run. I followed closely after them and we made it to the F.O.B with the Wendigos close behind us. The people i “killed” were still there and we told the guys with guns to start shooting the Wendigos.
“Who put this guy in charge? He doesn’t seem like an officer to me.” One of the greenies in camp muttered.
“Well, considering I snuck up on thirteen of you and none of you caught me, plus i have seniority over you, I’m. In. Charge.” I said menacingly.
“Fine, whatever.” Complainer said. The sound of gunfire rang through the whole forest, and I quickly told everyone to mount up. i ran to my Jaguar, which was parked really close by, was. I saw someone that hadn’t gotten to their vehicle, and was running towards it, but not fast enough, neither was my car, which by the time i had gone 200 feet towards them, He was crushed and eaten by the Wendigo’s. The convoy started heading away from the Wendigo’s, which wouldn’t go far out from the Marshes. When we arrived back at the school, it was a tuesday, and the start of Autumn. When i arrived I left my car just out front of the higher ups offices, unlocked, i knew no one would steal my car around the higher ups offices. I ran down to the Major’s office, the tenth one down, on the right. I burst in without knocking, right into the middle of a meeting. Eliza was soon after me.
“What do you want, second year?” Second year is what the Major called second year students.
“T-the first year students mission sir, we had an actual casualty.” I started with a stutter.
“Already, damn, those Greenies can barely unsheath a sword or shoot a gun.” the Major swore at himself, only about 150-200 first years make it to second year, and nearly 500 students come into the school each year, and about 100 second year students make it to third year, by then they know the dangers.
“It was Wendigo’s, the pack is becoming big again, and two followed us about a mile and a half out this time, and a kid was eaten.” I shuddered at the memory of a kid being stepped on by something only a foot or so taller than him, and almost instantly breaking his back, then the look on his face as those daggers of teeth ripped him apart.
“This will be a bad year, besides more kids dying, our barrier is almost destroyed, the presence of so many Jagers here is drawing more and more monsters each day, and the teams can barely take down more than 8 monsters daily before returning from wounds or exhaustion.” The Major explained to me. “We need to make a specialized squad, for protecting the barrier, and Niklaus?”
“Yes, sir?” I replied nervous of the Major yelling at me.
“I want you to pick the recruits for this specialized team, and I want Greenies and three to sixth year, so you can leave some to it and teach others the works of how it’s done.” He said, calm as ever.
“Yes sir!” i said, smiling on the inside, I straightened and saluted.
“Dismissed, Second.” Major waved me out.
I walked out to my car and drove to the dorm area, went up to my dorm and just laid down for a couple hours, trying to sleep, in the darkness of my room at five in the afternoon. my sleep pattern is messed up, and I don’t know why, I stay awake at night and sleep during the day, the doctors on campus say its my body clock, and that I’m fine.I got up at about twelve midnight and went into my second room, made to look like an armory, and has two cases, one for Chrysaor and one for Godsbane, and a smaller one for HellReaver, these were basically my family, connected spiritually to me, they can “talk” to me by by sending emotion, and have a semi-physical state as a misty figure.
This room was about 12 feet by 15 feet, and about a third of this space is taken up by the Pseudo-armory and the other two thirds are taken up by a wall and another room, Eliza’s “room”. She is my angeloid, and has free reign over herself, but still has to comply to me. I let her have a room to herself in each dorm I will stay in. I just “Got” her this year, by going to the Major and asking, and him knowing my potential, agreed. We have become great friends and I treat her with utmost respect, almost like she was MY superior. I agreed with her asking if she can have control over herself, and she is the perfect balance, 100 percent emotional control, 82 percent battle capabilities and 87 percent computational skills.
I asked her if she wanted to go out to the cafeteria, she agreed, and we decided to walk the nearly 20 miles.
“What were you up to while i was away at the Major’s?” I asked in a joking manner.
“Pshhh, just nothing, reading a little.” She lied.
“You’re still a terrible liar, Eliza.” I laughed out “what were you actually doing?”
“Checking records of the school’s history.” she said sheepishly.
“Eliza! You know you’re not supposed to do that! If you were caught, we would be dismissed from the school!”
“I know, Niklaus, I’m sorry.” she said, sounding sad.
We continued along in silence for about 20 more minutes, until we got to the Cafeteria, and we both got something to eat, and sat down at a table, facing each other.
“How was the mission?” Eliza said out of the blue.
“You mean you weren’t there?” I asked, in shock.
“Obviously, but I would know if you were in trouble, plus, angeloids go at like, mach twenty or something around there.” she smiled reassuringly at me.
“If you say so, Eliza.” I huffed out.
As we talked and ate, booms of the barrier breaking shook the school grounds. The barrier is like a half dome, and its circumference is about seventy kilometers, about forty-three miles each way, and covers a mountain, some desert, and the school and dorms and companion houses. Even knowing many veteran Jagers were on the premises, the Greenies ran screaming whenever the barrier weakened. If the monsters broke the barrier, all my equipment was at the dorms, near the only place monsters can enter, Eliza would have to fly me to the roof and hold off the monsters, thats also why the Greenies stay farther towards the academy.
I studied Eliza as she continued to eat. She was about five feet eight and had light pink hair, (she decided to dye it for reasons unknown to me - it used to be a nice Blonde colour.) and usually wore a pair of dark jeans and a light green hoodie that is a little too big, she has about six of the same outfit, then one outfit that was decently formal. She noticed me staring and stared back, until I stopped zoning out over her appearance and quickly looked away.
“What’cha staring at?” Eliza poked fun at me.
“Nothing, just, you know, zoning out again.” I covered.
“Riiight.” she smiled and got up. “shall we be going then?”
“Okay, lets be off!” I agreed and jumped up to follow Eliza out the door.
We started off back towards the dorms. We got about three-fourths of the way there, and I decided to go see my hawk, Shahiin.
“Do you want to come with to see Shahiin? I think he’s started to miss you.” I asked Eliza.
“Sure!” she replied, she always seemed happy about everything.
As we walked the five-hundred or so feet we had another conversation.
“You know I’m going to have to teach some Greenies and train an elite squad to protect the barrier right?” I asked Eliza “and you might not be allowed to come with us.”
“I’m fine with it, as long as there are veterans in that squad.” She replied, dead serious now.
“There might be one or two veterans in the squad, i don’t know yet.” I confessed “I’m the one that has to choose them.”
“Then choose people you know, like me, or those two you saved from the Wendigo.” She said as cheerfully as she could muster at the time.
“I don’t know if i can choose you, Eliza, you’re not a Jager.” I complained as we arrived at the Bird house.
“It’s not like you’re leaving me, Niklaus, and I can also find you with my scanner remember? Even if you get injured, I’ll know, and I”ll come get you.”
“Thanks Eliza.” I said with a smile. Eliza has times where she seems completely independent and times where she seems emotionless and needs orders.
I went in and got Shahiin from his cage, and stroked the back of his head with a finger.
“How were you Sha? i haven’t seen you for a while.” I spoke to Shahiin. All I got back was a “Caark!”
“Want to hold Sha?” I asked Eliza “He’s being passive right now.”
“It’s alright, I’ve never had a thing for birds, and...ya know, bird stuff gets in my system from time to time.” She explained, clearly embarrassed.
“What do you mean, ‘Stuff’?” I held back a laugh
“Meani-”
“I know what you meant, Eliza, I was kidding.” I explained hastily
“Oh.” She looked slightly confused.
After about thirty more minutes of sitting around near the cages, not talking, I decide to put Shahiin away and go home, it was nearly ten o’clock by the time we got back, and I was nearly as tired as a human that stayed up all night. I almost instantly fell asleep on the couch, as I usually sleep there.
I woke up to a pounding on the door, and it was some Veteran Vanguard from this school, also known as 6th years.
“Yeah? Whataya want?”
“You're being taken in to the center, the Core.” One of the more vicious looking ones said to me.
“Why?” I asked cautiously, fully awake.
“The barrier, the Major needs you there.” Another, slightly less vicious looking one said.
I went into the my “armory” to get my swords and spec knife, also known as Chrysaor, Godsbane and HellReaver. and to get Eliza, so we could head out with the Vanguard here.
“Let’s go Eliza” I whispered softly into her “room”.
Eliza and I went with the Vanguard, who surrounded us like we were being taken to prison.
I took my weapons because the Core was in the middle of the forest, thats why its called the Core, and we could potentially run into any class of monsters.
Our trek through the forest was mostly uneventful, but a couple of times the Vanguard with LMG’s spooked off some A-class monsters. When we got to the Core, the major was waiting at the door.
“Hello, Second, let’s head inside.”
We all entered the Core, which was an underground circular building, with a table in the middle showing the barrier, made by the techies, this table showed the weak points and clusters of monsters at the barrier. It showed the barrier failing almost everywhere.
“Niklaus,” This was the first time the Major spoke my name. “Do you know why you’re here?”
“I do not, Sir.” I answered.
“You’re here because the barrier is dying, and it needs a source, a living soul, per se.”
“Like, a living person, are you going to sacrifice me?” I half-joked.
“No, but we need other souls, we’ll be taking your weapons now. Restrain him.” The Major said Gravely.
4: RecoveryAlmost 8 people jumped on me before I was taken down. Eliza stood there, not knowing what to do.
“Master…?” She asked
“Run, Eliza, go get someone!” I yelled as she turned and ran out the door.
|--------------------|
I ran out of the Core, not knowing where to find help. I spread my twelve foot wingspan and took to the air, going towards the dorm area. After I landed, I sought out help from many people, but no one acknowledged me. I made my way back towards the school, but collapsed and shut down after an over-heated reactor, from the movement. I went into temporary shutdown, unable to do anything. It’s kind of like sleeping.
When I woke up, there were a few people surrounding me. I scanned their faces, matching profiles with the faces. Two I recognized: Zane Baroth, I had read up on his files, as I had read everyones, he was the last survivor of the ancient cult, house vii. He spent many years in cryogenic substance, making him slightly abnormal. A second one was Naz’hir Achilles, a contracter with wind powers, and special sword, name unknown to the school records. Lastly was…”Master?” I thought to myself, He was a grown subject, from a surviving S-class level 3 monster. He had next to no information at the school. He always wore his black trenchcoat. How he got here, i don’t know.
“I thought you were dead…” Niklaus said slowly.
“My reactor overheated, and I went into temporary shutdown.”
|--------------------|
I was trapped under at least eight people at this point, and it was like when kids hide under their laundry, and it gets all hot in the fortress of laundry. I was about at the point of unconcealing my inner self, of hatred and rage, not as bad as the hulk though, I don’t turn green or get bigger. The second i felt someone try to subdue me, I broke, it was like an out-of-mind experience, I saw my body be taken over and then used, as i was bigger than most of the old vanguard, being a newer generation. “I” forced upwards with such force it sent people flying, and then I went over to the Major, hit him aside with a backhand and took up my swords, and knife.
I then was normal again, standing in the middle of a group of Vanguard, they all looked scared. I started walking through the crowd. they all cowered when I walked by.
I found Eliza about a mile and a half from the 1st year dorms, and I did normal medical procedures to make sure she was ok. She woke up, and I could tell she did mental scans of everyone around her, even though I tell her not to.
After this “incident” the Major was ousted, and a new person was put in his place, correctly named “the General” by the other students.
(One Month after the “incident”)
“...I see, I’ll give you until the end of the term to decide.” The General was talking about the Elite team “That’s about one month.”
“I’ll hopefully have them decided by then.” I had a couple in mind, I just wanted to make sure they were ready.
I walked back out of the Higher-ups offices, back to my dorm, where I fell asleep, I mean, it was like 3 three in the afternoon. I slept over, because when I woke up, it was seven o’clock. I had mail at the door explaining this.
“Dear Mr. Kerbe, we are sincerely sorry for the events that have happened over these last few days, while you are recovering, you will not need to go to classes, signed the General.” I read aloud. I WAS going to classes, just tomorrow, and he was right, I was wiped out from “fighting” those people. I guess it’s some special thing my monster side can do. I didn’t know my monster genes, they didn’t tell me for unknown reasons.
I fell back into sleep and dreamt about a...lab? i saw myself in third person strapped to a table, thrashing about. I saw doctors with needles slowly moving towards me. I looked back at myself and saw hair, limbs, and teeth? I had these long teeth that stretched out about an inch, and I knew that kind of monster, it was a legendary one, not me, it was an S-class supermonster, capable of killing seventy or eighty Jagers if they wanted to
The Doctors shoved their needles into my arms and legs, and then put some through my skull into my brain. So thats why I didn’t know what I was, I was the thing I was training to destroy. I woke up in cold sweat, shaking those thoughts away. I looked to my wall clock and it showed four forty-five, the next day from when I fell asleep.
5: FightsI stepped out into the bone dry coliseum. I studied my surroundings. The crowd in the stands roared, dirt blew in my face and boulders lie strewn about the field, there were gates on either side of the arena. There were cracks in the walls from age. There were broken shards of weapons and arrows lying across the ground and unlit torches in random places of the field. I pulled out my transforming ash handle and set it to my favorite weapon, a giant obsidian cleaver sword type. Instantly it spit out a plume of ash and formed into a weapon. This was also my finest looking weapon that it could change to. Unlike most things obsidian, it was smooth. It had a hollow point in between the handle and the blade that looked like a big ring. On the back were sharp indents for holding and braking weapons. As my heart went up into my throat from my nervousness my opponent stepped out brandishing a brutal looking hammer and a jagged dagger. The announcer began “ Ristas and Zane, 3… 2… 1…”. We both pivoted our feet in anticipation. “FIGHT!”
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(hours before)
I stepped into my tent and was greated by Naz’hir and Ristas who were both competing.
“You nervous Zane?” Ristas asked innocently.
“Na,” I lied.
Naz’hir handed me the tournament round sheet. It had a diagram of a tournament tree to keep track of who’s with who. First round read me and Ristas.
“You ready to get your butt whooped?” I chuckled.
Ristas shook his head sarcastically and left with Naz’hir for their tents. Someone walked in with a bag and shoved a potion into my hand.
“Drink it right before your match.” He said sternly, and walked out.
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As my heart went up into my throat from my nervousness Ristas stepped out brandishing a brutal looking hammer and a jagged dagger. The announcer began “Ristas and Zane, 3… 2… 1…”. We both pivoted our feet in anticipation. “FIGHT!”
Ristas ran toward me at full speed.I just waited till he reached the halfway, about 40 feet from me. As he stepped over the halfway marker I pulled out my cross bow and shot a bolt with a rope on it toward his leg. He jumped and the bolt rocketed into his foot. He landed with a roll and stood up, blood gushing from his foot. He saw me grab the rope and braced himself against a boulder. I gave the rope a hard yank, and as the arrow tore out of his foot, the barb got lodged in it. Again he charged limping across the field. I ran at him cleaver in hand. As I ran I thought up a strategy. I knew Ristas had a strong will so there was no way of him conceding. And I knew he could take A LOT of abuse before his body gave up from loss of blood. I decided to break his legs, then at least the judges would call match, because he wouldn’t be able to fight. As we met I side stepped him and stabbed him in the calf. As he tumbled to the ground his hammer came up and bashed into my ribs, cracking them in all on that side in half. I flew against a boulder and fell to the ground, I stood and waited…
“...RAAAAH,” Ristas screamed as he lunged off the boulder behind me, I turned and gave him a kick to the ear. He landed like a cat and lunged. He caught me in the gut with his dagger. As he skidded behind me I changed my cleaver into a giant hammer much like his. He tripped over the edge of a boulder and lay sprawled on the ground. I stood over him and swung. CrAcK! I snapped both his legs, and the judges called match because of inability to fight.
I walked gasping for breath back to my tent. The potion was starting to wear off and I felt my rib lodged in my lung.
I walked into my tent where the man from before handed me the same potion from before my match as well another. He told me to take the other one first. It was vile but my lung no longer felt punctured. I felt with my hand it and it wasn’t.
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(a few matches later)
Again I was in the field. I was in the quarter finals up against Talon.
“Zane and Talon, 3… 2… 1… FIGHT!” The announcer yelled.
Talon charged and I waited till he was about 20 feet away. I launched myself up onto a boulder and made a lunge at him. I smashed into his shield and the bladed edge caught me in the thigh. I tumbled to the ground and he began boasting to the crowd. I skulked into the shadows. Talon turned around to “finish” me off.
Talon looked around confused. I stepped out only 10 feet away brandishing my crossbow. As he turned I fired my arrow through the right side of his chest leaving a 4 inch diameter hole in his chest. He pulled out his sword and collapsed onto the dirt.
I made my way to my tent and took my potions.
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I walked out onto the battlefield and across the field I saw Naz’hir.
As the ref called fight, Naz’hir threw a gust of wind at me and I flew back against the gate. I got up and he was already only 20 feet away. As he closed in I turned my cleaver into an ash whip and struck him across the side of the face. He tripped and tumbled into the gate. I bolted away, trying to find the best shadowy place or bottleneck in the boulders. I couldn’t find one so I just ducked behind a boulder. As he came racing by I shot him in the shoulder with my cross bow and as he flew back he unsheathed his sword and let out a huge burst of wind which sent me and the boulder behind me flying at the wall. I stumbled up with broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade, and a broken clavicle. He rushed up and hit me with a flurry of strikes. I just tried to hold him off for the rest of the time.
“TIME!!!!!” the ref called “, Sudden death… First hit to win! Begin!!”
Naz’hir rushed me. I quickly pulled out my whip and struck him in the face. The ref didn’t see it and I had to dodge the gust of wind that was heading toward my chest. I sidestepped it, pulled out an arrow and pinned Naz’hir’s arm against the wall. As I was about to strike him in the leg he used his magic to fling me against the wall and then black…
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I woke up in the ward a week later. Naz’hir was by my bedside sharmepong my arrows and reattaching my bow string.
The doctor walked up to me and stuck a needle in my I.V and my eyes grew heavy.
6: Schedule Naz
``It was 6:30 in the morning when I slammed the off button on my alarm clock and it nearly broke. Hell, the thing was already broken. It kept waking me up later and later which made me nearly miss first period math class every morning. So with little finesse I got up groaning and tripped on everything in the room to get my typical outfit on and to comb my hair. When I headed to class I was interrupted by the kid that had been picking on me for a couple weeks now he was known as Talon Graddick but to me he was known as a no good bully. Every day on my way to class I was unfortunate enough to walk by him. As I was on my way to my classes him and his stuck up no good possy would make fun of me, call me names, and worst of all call me a freak of nature because of the ways my wind gift’s affected my appearance. The grayish white hair was a major target for their abuse, but then my eyes which had a light grey iris that swirled around the pupil was also another thing to give me abuse for. So as I was on my way to class Talon stopped me and his posse all stared at me as if I was their next meal.
“Hey Freak, where do you think you’re going?”
“To Math Class maybe you should try it sometime it might do you some good,” and as I had started walking away one had stuck out his foot so that I would trip and fall flat on my face, and I did. As the burst of laughter that came from behind me encouraged me to stay down I got up anyway and walked to class.
In my math class there were some familiar faces that had been on the mission that was really a set up the entire time. However the most familiar is Zane. I swear I get the feeling that everything that’s going to happen this year to me is going to happen to him too. So as I walked into the classroom and found my desk I noticed Zane was two rows behind me and then i greeted him as the bell rang, My timing was impeccable. The math teacher’s name was Mr. Peterson, with 30 kids in the class, and it was incredibly boring. However that was definitely not the worst part about this class. Ooh no no no, the worst part was how Talon was just in range the entire time behind me to throw spit balls call me names say threats I mean Good god, how old is he?
My next Class though was my favorite - probably because it’s what i’m best at, Element magic class. I swear if i don’t get an A in this class I think might I won’t get any A’s at all, which would be new for me. So as class had started I noticed not many people were in the class. It was the size of normal classes and it had 27 people in it. You see, magic users are sort of the “nerds” per say of the Jager world we get picked on - as you can see from Talon - we get harassed and no one but ourselves and select others really talked to us. The teachers name for this class was Mr. Helsen who he himself, was a veteran magic user who was very experienced with the element’s. Our first instruction was literally to show off. We got to go up in front of the class say which element we used and to do a cool trick. When I had gotten up there everyone had looked at me like a freak - as usual- but I was determined to prove to them I was the cool kid in here. So introduced myself and described I was a wind magic user and to show off I performed something i’ve done a million times, I flew. Also as I flew and everyone was in awe I lifted everyone off the ground. It may sound cliche but how else was I going to impress by letting people fly around? Anyway that class ended with a lot of smiles and as was heading to science. I was already missing it.
At the start of science I noticed something peculiar, our science class was really just science on the world the Jagers live in. For instance biology was really certain monsters anatomy and weak points. But for this science class considering we are freshman it focuses on Jagers mainly and how we were formed along with the world we live in and all the science that involves us. Zane was also in this class and we greeted each other again and had some conversation but not much and I don’t really think he was paying attention either. This class’s teacher was Mrs. Greulich and it was also an average size class that that had 25 people in it. This class was a class that I thought was very eye opening and allowed me to realize the world we lived in better.
My next class I was headed to was Strategy Simulation. This was an outdoors class where we get other classmates and pre-plan and practice strategy, then simulate it. Everyday there was new terrain on the campus that we used so that we could practice different terrain planning. This class’s purpose was to help us understand how to plan assault’s on monsters with the able Jagers you have on different terrain. To me this was a very important class because I’m not very experienced with strategy, but in here I would learn how to outwit monsters and kill them more efficiently.
Now my Fifth period class was track and running something I excel at. Ever since I gained my wind powers I’ve been able to accelerate or slow down my body using the wind. Jagers are already stronger faster and smarter than any normal human but I was one of the fastest. So when we started to run I went at lightning speed and held nothing back. The top speed I hit during that run was 55X mph and I beat all the other racers by 30 seconds. I think I’ll ace this class.
My sixth class of the day would be leadership. This class’s fundamentals was all about well leadership. Every aspect that a leader needed in our world to lead Jagers into battle was right in this class. Of course there’s also the really boring stuff like planning prom, planning parties, really the boring stuff is just the planning. Hey, were still college students in a school after all. So any way after the Mrs. Peterson’s big speech about boring leader stuff at the beginning we had to share our biggest leadership quality. Mine was morale on the battlefield. If i was ever losing a fight my confident face wouldn’t show it and when the leader is confident so are his men.
My seventh and final class was Level 2 Monster Hunting class. This class was very important to how we jagers live and how to survive. This class’s soul purpose was to teach us how to fight, track, and hunt monsters. Were as science class was more of the wikipedia of all the monsters that exist in our world, Monster Hunting was how to find them and kill them. Now, there are different Levels of monster hunting and the level goes up by each year. However, since I am already experienced with monster’s and how to track and kill I’m advanced a year. So once i pass this class next year i will be taking Level 3 Monster Hunting. Really this class period for today was just a review on what we learned in Level 1 and then he told us tomorrow we would start learning new and more efficient ways on how to hunt monsters.
So after the day was done I had gone back to my small apartment and crashed on the bed. I was just wondering what was going to happen next after all of the event’s that had happened to me so far. But that would be tomorrow, for now I will just enjoy the bliss of my fireplace and get some shut eye.
7: Schedule ZaneI woke with a start and promptly threw my alarm clock across the room. It smashed against the wall leaving a small dent in it. I tossed the clock in the trash and shuffled over to my bed to retrieve a new one. My phone went off letting me know that it was 5:00. I walked over to my dresser and retrieved my crossbow, bolts, and my transforming ash handle along with my cloths.
I sluggishly opened my bathroom door and walked in.
[10 minutes later]
I walked out of my bathroom feeling a little better than ten minutes ago. I opened up my fridge and got out a jug of milk. I made myself a bowl of cereal and scarfed it down like a dog. I left my dorm stepping out into the cool morning air.
I walked slowly over to the bird building to say hi to my chocobo, Muninn.
I stepped into the building, and the sound of birds hit me like a wave. I walked over to Muninn’s cage and unlocked it. He obediently stepped out to greet me and ran over to his saddle.
“Sorry, buddy, not today.” I said apologetically.
He walked back into his cage with a slight whine and I closed the door. I threw some gysahl greens into his cage and walked out. My phone went off signalling that it was 6:00. I then began my boring trek to the school.
When I arrived class was about to start.
“Ugh… I got math.”
I asked the TA where my seat was and sat down. I scanned the room to look for people that I knew like everyone does and found Naz’hir. We exchanged greetings and then he went to sit down as the bell rang. It was…Uneventful.
I ran to my dorm to grab my weapons before heading to weapons training.
When I arrived we were instructed to get into groups by primary weapon type.
I was stuck with only three other people. Talon Graddick , Johan Stradd (some weird kid with blue hair), and Ristas Zeno (one of the few new friends I have…Well he had a similar backstory to me.)
We were instructed to get into pairs and do a series of moves in which we had to defend and counter. I had to be with Talon, and I groaned when I heard our names together.
We were then released to do the drills. It was grueling as balls. Every so often I’d get distracted and Talon would make a lunge at me, and blame it on him tripping on account of his huge nasty boots.
We then free sparred in the center of the gym, king of the hill style. Our match lasted almost ten minutes on account of the fact we didn’t play by the rules and so I spent most of the time trying to keep my head. Finally he got tripped up and I went in for a leg shot sending him tumbling to the ground. Instead of conceding he jumped up and lashed at me, and finally the coach called time and gave me the point because he continued without honor.
The rest of the period rolled by and I won against all in the class but one, Ristas.
I wandered into science minutes later tired from the last period. I saw Naz’hir we made small talk and sat down I never paid much attention to what Gruelich said so it felt like forever before we were let out. I never did like science.
Next was advanced strategy simulation. It was an ok class, by no means exciting. I walked into a dimly lit room. It had a holographic game table in the middle and rows of virtual reality goggles running along the walls. I sat down as the bell rang and Mr. Greem took the floor. “Ok…” He started. “I am Mr. Greem. Lets see…”. He split us up into groups. I was in the group with the holo table. I was chose to be the pack of wendigos and my partner was the jager squad.
My next class was battle training. Well, we just got to beat up and “kill” a bunch of dummies. Again Talon tried to slice my head off.
I walked into the tracking class tent. This class was a year above me so I was a bit intimidated. We were instructed to use a ranged weapon if we had one. For tracking we were going to try and track a giant spider. We got into pairs. I was stuck with some spazzy Dariin kid. He followed me as I stuck to the tracks. We came to a dead end where we were greeted by 4 pairs of burning red eyes staring down at us from above. I lept to the side as the stinger swooped in. “Crap,” I said to myself. I remembered commander Gonez instruction in that we could only kill the spider if our partner was killed, otherwise, we were to temporarily blind it. I shot my crossbow into it’s eyes and we fled.
Now was my finally class which was also with Naz’hir. Level two monster hunting practice. Me and Naz’hir were partners now. We set off for a Chimera. We found it after about an hour, and executed our plan. I shot my crossbow at it with a rope attached to the bolt. It stuck the chimera in the hind leg, and I pulled the rope to trip up the beast. Naz’hir followed by slicing off the head of the venomous snake tail it had poised at the ready. As It reared I cleaved the large lions head clean off. Naz’hir went in for the kill and struck it in the chest sending it careening back into a ditch.
We wandered back to our dorms and said our goodbyes. I stumbled into my dorm and plopped down onto my bed. I set my alarm clock for tomorrow and dozed into black.
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