Damien opened his eyes slowly, squinting when a burning light immediately assaulted his retinas. Someone had forgotten to close the shutters fully, yet again.
'Looking at you, Lexi.'
He smiled slightly at the nostalgic incident and shrugged it off. It was something he'd complained about more than enough times, and she'd gotten better, yet she still couldn't bring herself to remember all the time. Getting upset when it happened now, even though she was trying, was not something he was about to do.
He began his morning stretch while laying down, lifting his arms up out of her wings while shivering slightly. The morning air wasn't all that brisk inside their heated mansion, but it was still cold enough to be noticeable with the breeze coming from their window.
He smacked his lips together as his eyes focused themselves and was made aware of the headache he had. They'd stayed up later than usual partying with Gallion and the squad after making them wear the curtains as clothing, turning it into an impromptu toga party. It was a blastt and had marked the first day he'd actually gotten drunk in this world. Just like any right of passage, first consumption of alcohol on Earth, he had imbued way too much of the mana-infused beer and was left with an incurable hangover.
Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat as his thoughts halted. Realizing the light on his eyes was the sun and that they had slept in, panic set in.
"...Lexi, get up."
...
"Lexi, Kastra."
"Just a few more minutes."
"Please."
He jumped out from the comfort of her wings and the bed, turned, and ripped the covers off the two. Assaulted by the brisk air on their scantly clothed bodies, the two curled around one another as Alexa re-wrapped them with her wings and Damien threw open the shutters.
"The sun is UP. We need to get ready, now!" he said with impatience and anxiety in his voice, moving back to the bed and prying Kastra out of Alexa's wings.
Looking down to his ring and willing a clock to appear, he was relieved to see they weren't late yet but were definitely pushing it. Ten minutes to get up, get ready, and sprint across campus to the arena for Advanced Combat. Even worse, the class was being held at the open fields on the southern side of the campus, not in the arenas, so it was far.
"It's not THAT late..."
"We have ten minutes to do a thirty-minute walk, what are you talking about?!" Damien responded incredulously as Kastra wrapped her arms around him and leaned into his shoulder, trying to fall back asleep while standing. "We might not make it sprinting."
When Alexa still didn't seem to register the problem, he grabbed her by her leg and dragged her to the edge of the bed.
"He-Hey! Stop it!"
"Get up!" he said, letting go and running into the bathroom to rinse his face.
"Stoppp," Kastra moaned out, feet dragging behind her as she hung off him.
Ignoring her, Damien looked in the mirror and saw his hair was a complete mess, scraggly stubble he'd been trying to grow into a beard scattered all over his face. It looked horrible. He looked horrible. Thinking quickly, he willed mana into a thin shard of ice with a razor's edge and was relieved to find he could shave with it, but less so when his quickly moving hands cut himself.
He gave his hair and face a quick rinse then moved back into the room to see Alexa had finally rolled out of bed. Kastra complained again and began to shrink herself down. Feeling a bit guilty at making her wake up with them, Damien got ahold of her before she was too small and placed his favorite Fae onto his shoulder where she crawled to his neck and settled in beneath his shirt collar. Looking back up, Alexa had moved toward the hutch and was currently topless, bent over, and turned away, pulling some pre-made mana clothes up over her underwear.
Damien gulped at the sight and lightly shook his head.
'Pure thoughts.'
Ignoring the eye-candy, he moved next to her and opened a drawer holding his own clothes.
"Why are you being so casual about this?? We need to get going," he said after throwing on a shirt and pants, turning to his side to look into her sleepy ruby red eyes.
She was still barely piecing her shirt together, messing up the buttons while her beatuiful white hair was all over the place. Pushing her hands out of the way, Damien undid and then redid her buttons, Alexa dropping her hands to her sides and smiling up at him spoiling her.
"We can leave in a few more minutes. I want to do my hair," she replied sleepily.
"We'll be late. What about a thirty-minute walk don't you understand? It'll take at least eight to sprint the whole way," he said, finishing her buttons, throwing her cardigan on her shoulders, and edging for the door. "I'll do your hair as we run, let's go! The instructor is going to kill me," he mumbled anxiously.
"Yeah but it's only a one or two-minute flight, just let me bring you," she said to his back, unconcerned.
Damien's hand froze as he reached for the door handle, mind blanking out. Slowly, he turned back around.
"That's right... Those aren't just blankets, are they?" he responded absently.
"Only you, out of everyone on this planet, would think they're blankets," she responded.
"Mmthink ther grood blnkets," Kastra mumbled out, half-asleep.
Damien felt her sitting up and looked over to see her rubbing her eyes.
"He doesn't think mine are blankets," she then added sadly, looking back at her wings.
"That's because yours aren't full of feathers," Alexa said.
"I can make them full of feathers..."
His mind blanked out a second time at that mental image. He sincerely hoped she would never grow feathers on her wings. They were similar to a dragon fly's currently, he couldn't even imagine feathers on them.
Alexa moved into the bathroom and five minutes of hassling later, they were all outside the front door to their home.
"So, how do we do this?"
She grinned before sweeping him up in a princess carry, looking down at him while seemingly holding back a fit of giggles. Damien stared back up with a deadpan expression.
"No."
"It's either this or I carry you like a child by your armpits," she stated.
He struggled out of her arms and smoothly stepped up to her, draping his arms over her neck. Her face lost its grin.
"This is a bit of a role reversal here, but much better," he said with a grin.
"I guess this would work too. I didn't even think of it," she said, wrapping her left arm around his back unconcerned.
He mentally sighed, realizing once again how dense she could be in this specific matter. He really, really needed to have a talk with her.
He felt Kastra grip on to his shirt tighter as Alexa's body rocked slightly from her wing movement. A moment later, his stomach plummeted as she launched into the air. The surrounding temperature dropped sharply as the wind whipped by them, much faster than any normal person could run.
"Holy shit, slow down!" he yelled out.
"No, we'll be late!" she yelled back as he gripped on tighter, eyes shutting.
It felt like the wind was almost biting into his skin. He could have definitely done something to counter that with his magic but was too flustered to even consider it. He'd ridden in planes before and wasn't exactly the biggest fan of heights, but this was on another level. He didn't even consider looking down, let alone opening his eyes.
"You can let go now," she said after what seemed like an hour but was less than a minute.
Damien shook his head.
"Damien, this is getting embarrassing," she said.
His mind finally registered that she wasn't yelling and that they didn't seem to be moving anymore. His eyes opened carefully and sure enough, they were on the ground, and he was still holding onto her like a damsel in distress. He let go and took a step back, coughing loudly.
"And what did you decide to bring your pet for?" a voice asked.
'Wonderful.'
The voice had sounded familiar but different at the same time and Damien had a hunch of who it might belong to. It seemed the years had not changed the bastard.
Turning around, Damien met the eyes of Cedar, the obnoxious and not-so-little any longer Celestial from back when they'd met Gallion. He'd grown to be Damien's height, the tallest of the group of four Celestials he stood at the front of yet kept his same general appearance from when he was younger. Damien had thought he might meet him here but had hoped it wouldn't be for much longer.
It seemed he was unlucky.
Damien had unfinished business with the asshole, being the only one since Kastra had become a permanent piece of their lives to make her cry, but he'd wanted to handle it later in the year.
Damien opened his mouth to respectfully ask the douche to go play in traffic but was cut off as a ball of ice domed the idiot in the face, rocking his head backward and leaving a cut on his forehead.
"Fuck off, dirtbag. Leave us alone before I castrate you," a small voice yelled out from Damien's shoulder.
His eyes widened as he did his best to maintain a neutral expression, body tormenting him with a fit of giggles as the surrounding atmosphere seemed to chill instantly. He saw the Celestial's face go from pain to shock to anger, then to a sneer as he opened his mouth.
This was not how Damien envisioned his first day of class going.
"Was I speaking to you, you insignificant lit-"
"Cedar. This is not the time, nor the place to express your distaste of this particular Human and Fae," one of his buddies said from behind, setting a hand on the Celestial's shoulder.
Around five foot eight, the new Celestial Damien hadn't met back on the caravan appeared to be the same age or just a tad younger than Alexa. Short golden hair, well-kept eyebrows, a hairless face... Damien believed he'd be perfect for a boyband, though he was in a little too good of shape.
Damien smiled at the new-comer. At least one of them had common sense and seemed somewhat decent.
"You can continue the tirade with these lesser beings after class is over, or not at all. I don't see why you'd trouble yourself with ants, anyway."
Another ball of ice flew, but the new man batted it away without much care, expecting the response. Damien retracted his earlier kind thoughts and reached to his side, grabbing Kastra by her legs as she stood up and tried to leap from his shoulder to go mutilate the Celestials before her. He'd deal with Cedar eventually, but not in a manner that would get them expelled.
Looking past Kastra, Alexa seemed down, not saying or doing anything much while radiating shame in the pact. He assumed it was about the way those of her race were treating them now that Damien was here. It was most likely the Dean's fault they were so volatile, but she seemed to once again blame herself for something she had no control of, likely made worse because she used to hold small amounts of that attitude in her own personality.
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It hurt to see her like that.
"Can we not do this?" Damien cut in, speaking before Cedar, who had been opening his mouth yet again.
"Do what? Speak with y-"
"Not have this whole issue between us even though we've never met? I don't even know you. Can't you just leave me and mine alone and go about your business? You're upsetting her," he interrupted while speaking as kindly as his mind would let him.
'Please let them just screw off,' he begged.
He'd come here to learn from his betters and enjoy himself, not deal with pompous, coddled, spoiled little assholes that wanted Humans gone. If he'd known they were here, he wouldn't have taken the class. Well, he would have, if only to make sure Alexa was alright, regardless of how well he knew she needed no protecting.
'Why do they even care about us?'
Unfortunately, rather than quelling, his words seemed to light a fire in three of the four Celestials before them as Cedar stepped forward threateningly, Damien unconsciously taking a step to place himself further in front of Alexa.
"You dare call a Celestial from one of the families yours?" he said laughingly.
"She's more mine than any of you have right to claim, just leave us be," Damien shot back.
"She may be a Human loving bitch, but she's still going to be one of ours," Cedar replied, smirking.
"Cedar, that's too-"
"Why don't you try saying that, just one more fucking time, buddy," Damien growled out threateningly, interrupting the 'sensible' Celestial while taking a step toward the moron before him, Kastra egging him on in the pact.
"Stop," Alexa said, grabbing his arm and turning him back to face her.
"Not a ch-"
"Please, Damien," she interrupted, holding onto him. "I'd rather not... not here," she continued, eyes begging him to calm down.
He immediately thought to brush her arm off, but stopped himself when he saw the sad smile she wore. He hadn't particularly wanted to argue with them in the first place but had definitely gotten carried away by his anger, and still was getting carried away. He wanted to give them the shouting match they deserved before beating the idiot into the ground. To let Kastra attack them.
But the anger gave way to concern as he looked at Alexa's expression. She didn't appear mad at them, her eyes holding more anguish and resignation instead. She didn't need a brawl in front of her right now.
Damien sighed, chastising himself and trying to calm down. He reached up to brush some hair out of her face and behind her left ear, then smiled while grabbing one of her hands to move toward a different corner of the group of classmates around them.
For whatever reason, she didn't want him to lash out, so he wouldn't. Not this time, at least.
'Retaliation can wai-'
"You are a group of ignorant little cunts who dance to the tune of your family. You have no personality or individuality. Speaking with idiots like you would only serve to taint us, anyway. The fact that you have a thing for Lexi only makes this all the more pathetic, Arion," Kastra called out while twisting her upper body around to glare at the four, flipping them off in the process as Damien mentally thanked Gallion this time for her extensive vocabulary.
'Why does that name sound familiar?'
Alexa's face became one of shock as Damien laughed a little and let his hand move from her hand to her hip, using that place to begin guiding her away instead. He hadn't been the one to respond, so he wasn't in trouble, and Kastra rarely got this emotional, so Alexa couldn't get mad at her. Expressing more emotion was what they wanted from her, after all.
If Damien were more immature, he'd have kissed and hung off Alexa to see if it would get a rise out of the potentially jealous man. Unfortunately, Alexa always eased off on her affections when they were in public of late, and he decided to respect that. They weren't technically a couple yet, even if it damn well seemed like it. He'd figure out on Valentines, or Lover's day in this world since there was no saint Valentine, what they were.
Either way, Damien settled for pushing a bit affectionately on her waist and walking extra close to her instead. Gentleman or not, his competitive spirit had flared up at Kastra's words.
He heard two of them step forward after Kastra's words but another loud voice boomed throughout the area, stopping whatever it was they'd planned to do.
"Stop screwing off! Circle the hell up so I can see who I have to beat into submission this year!"
Turning around, Damien saw something he had definitely not wanted to see when he was voluntold to take this course. Six feet easily, probably close to two hundred and fifty pounds and ripped, two white bunny ears atop her head that almost seemed to be flexing as well... all features making up a large Kreel woman who stood on a mound of earth on the southern side of the field they were in.
Within seconds, Damien began praying to the god's that they wouldn't ever have to spar her and her deadly-looking claws.
"Sweetheart, exercise a little bit more class when speaking with the children please," a Werewolf said, stepping out from behind the giant terror bunny.
Damien hadn't even seen him at first, entirely hidden by the large woman's physique. The Werewolf had fangs similar to the Kreel woman, but they were shorter and less jagged. He held a warm expression and wore glasses over the top of his eyes while smiling at the class and chastising the woman.
While Werewolves didn't have snouts or thick hair covering their whole body, they did have furry, pointed ears and light amounts of either black or brown fur where a Human would have their usual body hair. On top of that, their hands and feet all had claws similar to a Kreel's on them, expanding and retracting at will.
"Call me sweetheart again, Reinel, and I'll beat you," the woman replied. "My name is Layla. I'm your instructor for this course, and a Combatant specialized in ground. This," she said, gesturing to the man beside her, "is Reinel. He is a Mage that is communed with ground, coincidentally. He is not an instructor, but will be here to assist whenever I feel like putting you all through hell. Don't remember the faces you see around you, most will be gone before the end of the week."
Damien grew more and more uncomfortable as the woman spoke. She had a fervent look in her eyes and when she'd seen him, she'd scowled. He wondered if he'd be one out of the forty or so people here that would disappear by the end of the week, though he knew he wouldn't give up if it were his choice.
"Now, with introductions out of the way, let me get down to it. I don't care who you are or where you are from and won't bother remembering your names until later. I will be treating you like any other run of the mill Demi-Human out there. You will tolerate it, or leave. I am here to teach you how to survive in one on one and small team combat situations, meaning that you Mages will have it the worst. You will spar with one another, Combatant and Mage alike, and you will become stronger than you were by the end of the year for it. But, if you think you will get through this without bleeding, breaking a few bones, and going home after every single class with bruises, get the hell out of my class," she finished, a feral grin across her face.
Reinal, the Werewolf, was looking up at her with admiration plainly written across his face. Admiration, or love, but Damien hoped it was the former. He only nodded along with her statements and said nothing to contradict her. The fact that Reinal was here now, after she stated he was only here during bad days...
Looking around the circle he stood in, Damien noticed that only those four Celestials, Alexa, and himself seemed to be Mages. The other forty or so students looked to be Combatants and were a mix of the races.
Damien's eyes widened as he scanned his soon-to-not-be classmates. Standing on the far side of the group from them, a beautiful and petite cat-eared woman was nervously glancing from the instructor to the others. He immediately wanted to know what her name was, what she was doing here, if she had friends, if all cat women looked like her... They were such a rarity, he'd found. He'd absolutely need to find or make some opportunity to talk with her.
He felt a nudge from his side and noticed Alexa looking at him a bit angrily while motioning toward Layla with her head. When he looked over, she was standing just a few feet away and staring right at him.
"And what the hell do you think you're doing in my class, child?" she asked.
"I-"
"I don't care what Lemshire says, you're still a pup and don't belong here. You'd probably break down from the pain you'll experience today alone. What the hell makes you think I should even waste my time?" she said, interrupting him.
Hard-headed, seemingly a battle maniac, and already didn't like him. This was not going well at all. He needed to think of something to salvage her opinion of him quick, before she threw him out.
"I've been sparring my whole life and am quite accustomed to pain. Breaking bones and getting stabbed," he said, pausing slightly as his eyebrows lifted, "... well, it's good practice for my healing magic. If you want proof, I could spar with that man over there and show you?" Damien questioned, pointing to Arion.
When he'd mentioned getting stabbed, Damien's mind had drawn a connection to why he remembered that specific Celestial's name. Alexa had mentioned it once, the day he'd killed his first Elerian. It was the name of the kid who had made advances on her when they were younger. He didn't think the boy would still have feelings Lexi by now, but not only did Kastra think he did, but he was a bit of an asshole too. That was all the excuses Damien needed to try and get into it with him, all the better if Layla condoned it.
"Fight a pretty little fairy like him? Do you think watching two little pussies slap each other around is going to convince me? You think I care to see a brawl between two weak Mages?" she asked mockingly.
Damien sighed internally, watching the chance disappear before him. He believed she wanted violence, but apparently, that was not the case. He hoped she was just testing him with her provocations, but if this were to be a constant thing, perhaps this class really would vacate of most its students sooner rather than later. Or, it wouldn't, and based on the number of Combatants that were nodding along with the woman, it seemed that was the more likely of the two options.
"What would you suggest I do, then?" he asked.
"You said you've broken bones before, so break one for me, and I'll consider it. If you're not all talk, though I doubt it. Why don't you go join Basic Tactics, a class where you'll learn how to hide behind people and sling your spe-"
The Kreel's words froze in her mouth as Damien stared dead into her eyes, flinching only slightly as he touched the nail of his left middle finger to the back of his left hand. Her eyes widened slightly as he moved his hand over to his index finger, adrenaline coursing hot through his veins.
This time, he wrenched it sideways, bone snapping and tendons tearing inside. The corners of Layla's mouth begin to curl upwards, like a maniac just itching to see how much more he'd do.
The surrounding students were silent as he continued his gruesome display three more times, snapping them all at the joints, sometimes more than once if the break was too clean. Each time Damien flinched a little at the sting, wishing he knew more about anatomy to interrupt his pain receptors. He could heal his fingers back to normal in about ten minutes, so there was no real drawback to showing this display, but being able to stop the pain entirely would be a boon he probably couldn't achieve until he communed.
He thought for a moment that he might have gone too far, but after hearing the way she'd described the class, he was eager to stay. It was indispensable to learn how to protect one's self on this planet, and with how chaotic the continent was combat was going to be inevitable. He needed to stay.
"Excellent look, boy. Wonderful. You just became my new favorite Human. In fact, I loved your display so much, I believe we'll all do justttt that to warm up," she said, grabbing her left middle finger and crushing it back onto itself as she spoke without even the slightest flinch, as Reinal followed in unison from beside her. "The path of strength you all have chosen is not one that will provide for you in life without battle," she continued, snapping two more fingers as she began walking between the students. "You will all fight, and you will all get injured. Broken bones like these," she said, driving her right fist into her left wrist as a loud crunch echoed out yet again, "will only distract you at a crucial moment if you're not used to the pain or the handicap. I'd say this is the best place we could have started! Thank you, Mr. Prodigy!" she finished, grinning at Damien as the students around stared on wide-eyed at her mangled and bloody corpse of a hand.
Luckily, they'd appeared to stunned by her to register that she'd thrown him under the bus, just like Lemshire had. She'd been much less careful with her breaks than Damien was and it looked like there was bone ripping through her skin.
After a few tense seconds of the class being in stasis, Layla's face changed from satisfied to agitated.
"Well, what are you waiting for? CLASS STARTED WHEN I STARTED, SO GET CRACKING BOYS AND GIRLS OR GET OUT," she screamed into the face of an unfortunate nearby Elf, who immediately fell on his rear. "You have ten minutes, and you on the ground have five. Get through your entire hand, or I don't want to see you again. And don't even think about healing them until class ends. You can set them, if you know how."
The next few minutes were punctuated by more than a few protests and the sound of bones and tendons breaking, tearing, or dislocating. Layla said nothing else, only watching on with a calculative grin. Currently, only Alexa, Arion, himself, and Cedar were the Mages in the class now. The two other Celestials had left, while around ten Combatants had walked away, including the cat-eared one.
Damien had almost shed a tear as he watched her go. Alexa had glared at him.
The two Celestials were left red in the face and sweating while they currently glared daggers at him. They said nothing, but Damien still almost spoke up in his defense. It wasn't exactly his choice to break his bones, and if he could have chosen another way, he would have, but he doubted he'd have been allowed to stay if he hadn't gone for the top shelf.
It was twisted, yet helpful. It was true they'd need to get used to injuries, and healing magic basically took away the real problem with breaking your hand, but his mind just couldn't wrap around it being ok for a teacher to demand that of her students. This whole warm up was unethical, no matter how he thought of it.
But this wasn't a world ruled by morals and ethics. School was supposed to prepare you for the real world, and this was Eleria's reality.
Alexa was one of the last finished, having helped Damien set his fingers before she started. She'd gone through the mutilation like a champ, flinching less than he had just watching her.
"Woah, stop there," Damien said, moving quickly to Kastra and stopping her hands from self mutilating. "You really don't have to do this as well. You aren't exactly used to pain like Lexi and I, it's ok if you don-"
"No, it isn't," she interrupted. "I need to learn to defend myself too and get used to pain. The big woman is right. Our lives depend on making the right decisions when the time calls for it and not being distracted by little things like this. Flinching at a broken bone could very well mean the end of my life and yours," she interrupted, growing to her full size and removing his hands from hers.
"Yeah bu-"
"Kastra it's ok if-"
"No buts, from either of you," she cut in again, this time interrupting them both. "I'm not your child. I'm your partner for life. You helped Alexa get used to pain and battle, support me in this as well. If I'd known better when we first met, I'd have demanded it back then."
He looked into her determined eyes and sighed. She was right, as she usually was when she got opinionative. Coddling her wouldn't help anyone, least of all her. He needed to treat her as an individual like he did Alexa, not someone to be protected, and not only with regards to this. He had been treating her almost like a parent would treat a child when she was an adult herself. He resolved himself to rectify that in the future.
Still, useless pain was not worth it, and he'd always coddle both his girls as much as possible without hurting their future growth. There were better ways to go about this particular lesson.
"Ask Layla if it's alright for you to take part in the lessons, then. If she says no then we'll start sparring with you at home more, no magic like Lexi and I used to. In fact, we'll do that either way, but if Layla does say no, please don't hurt yourself here," he implored, trying to come to a compromise with himself as much as with her.
"Ms. Layla, is it alright if I participate in your class even though I'm not a student?" Kastra asked immediately, waving in the Kreel's direction.
"I don't give a damn, long as you do the same as everyone else here," she responded, motioning to the few students that were still struggling. "Show me you won't be a waste of time to teach."
Damien's heart sunk as Kastra nodded while moving her hand to her fingers. His adrenaline rush gone, it was beyond obvious what a sick way of being allowed entry into this class this was. He and Alexa mangled themselves all the time in sparring, but Kastra...
Looking around, he couldn't believe so many students had decided to stay.
Damien walked up behind Kastra and wrapped his arms around her from behind while burying his face in the nape of her neck, telling himself to go help Alexa set her fingers when this was done.
"Just be quick about it, please. And set them before you show them off to me. I wish I'd have just not taken this course," he bemoaned, lying to himself.
He prayed to the gods none of his other classes would have such drastic mental cases for teachers as he felt Kastra's body shake, a small squeal escaping her lips.