POV Anna Silverus
Anna felt Aron’s mood take a dive and looked up. It didn’t take her long to recognize the reason for his change. The young marquess Stonewall had arrived with his clique.
“Stonewall, what do you want?” Aron asked in a bored voice.
“Waste, why do you think I would deign to talk with you? I am here to speak with young miss Silverus. It’s obvious that she has made a mistake in finding her friends. But it is okay, I am a gracious person. Anna come, let’s leave this weak-willed individual. We will forget your earlier mishaps. Believe me, it is better to have real friends instead of such unbecoming company.”
Anna knew deep down that her affiliation with Aron would lead to such an encounter. Yet she had hoped she would have more time before it happened. The short time she had gotten to know Aron had shown him to be an extremely disciplined and strong-willed person, only stopped by the poisoning of his body. Her gut told her that there was more to him than he had shown so far. Yet she had no time to unearth it.
Looking only at the facts, the picture was bleak. He had lost his main core, damned to never reach his potential, known by all to be a waste. In addition, he had made enemies with one of the strongest marquess' families on this side of Targos. On the contrary, he had a special familiar. That wasn’t enough. It should have been clear who to choose as her friends. Yet she couldn’t leave Aron hanging after he had saved her twice.
Anna told herself that it wouldn’t be so bad for her future. Jane had connections to the young marchioness Nightshield, it needed to be enough. Her father was going to give her an intense “lashing” for her shortsighted decisions, but she couldn’t go against her conscience.
“Young Marquess Stonewall, thank you for your offer. I am warmed by your gracious attitude. Yet I have to decline. I am where I should be. Aron is my friend.”
Bowing her head in the direction of the visibly angry noble, Anna hoped he wouldn’t take it too poorly.
“You choose this piece of shit over us? I see, you have made your decision. You want to lay in the mud? It shall be so! My noble friends, henceforth she shall be an outcast as well. Don’t talk to her anymore. Let them enjoy their company in isolation!”
With a last snort, the young noble turned and their entire group left.
Looking up, she directly glanced in Aron’s eyes.
“You shouldn’t have done that. Now you are completely alone.”
Anna gave him a half smile “Am I?” after a brief pause she spoke further “No, I am not. And as you know, his sort of friends are great if you are doing well for yourself, but if you have trouble, they are the first to abandon you.”
Aron mustered her with his piercing eyes and nodded.
“Good. I won’t forget this, Anna.”
______
POV Aron Brightcloud
I had expected this situation. Yet I had hoped for it to happen later. I had not given enough reasons for Anna to choose my side in a frontal collision. Sadly, Stonewall proved surprisingly adept and tried to isolate me early. To my surprise, Anna stayed at my side. Even proclaiming in front of all to be my friend. I would not forget that.
After the brief interlude of my most favorite person, we ate our lunch in companionable silence. From outside it looked like nothing had changed, yet we had gotten closer. The seed of friendship had grown.
Finished with the meal, we stood up and separated. Elemental-classes stood on the schedule. I looked forward to them. The acceptance I felt from my peers much stronger than in my other classes.
I seated myself next to Alex.
“Hey, Aron, I hope you have been doing well. Were you able to improve your force-threads and invisible spells?”
Shaking my head, I spoke. “Sadly, not much. I still have problems creating threads that don’t break apart. Don’t get me talking on invisible spells. The more see-through they get, they harder to control they become. I still have a headache from exercising!”
My new table companion laughed in response.
“Invisible spells are a real pain. Thats the reason so few mages have them. They are horrifically hard to cast. Yet they give us a powerful advantage. You should practice your force threads more. They can be used in almost every situation.”
I hung my head in played defeat.
“I know. But they are so hard. I will practice them in the evening.”
Alex watched me approvingly. He loved to help and teach. My taking his advice so readily made him feel closer to me.
To further enhance his perceived worth, I practiced force threads in front of his eyes. Showing him with my actions that his teachings were important to me.
I had made some headway, but by far not as much as I had hoped. Where others simply flushed their arm pathway with magic, I had to use pure control to guide it through the right roots. Admittedly, I had a shit-load of control, but the roots exacerbated the exercise to an extreme.
Luckily, my mastery of invisible spells had improved markedly. There, all my strengths fused together, pushing me far ahead of my peers. During last night I had succeeded in turning the weakest magic arrow completely invisible.
Okay, it wouldn’t kill much more than a fly. But for being in my first year and only at the beginning, this was a superb result.
Teacher Mangrove’s arrival interrupted my practice. The elderly man rushed into our classroom with his usual zeal.
“Good afternoon! I hope you have been diligently practicing your spells! I heard some students lament the hardness of the exercises, so I have decided to give you an additional day's worth of training. Use these lessons to improve your spell mastery. I will stay available for any questions you might have. Now begin!”
His words fit me. My spells were still pretty raw and unrefined. I refocused on what I had been doing, practicing the force tentacles.
The arcane energy tried to escape into the wrong roots, yet I didn’t let it. Steadily, I pushed it out of my arm, keeping a connected stream going. I needed my full attention. Still, this marked a further step in the right direction.
Two hours later, I walked out of the class with a pounding headache. It had been worth it. My mastery had improved. Not enough to use it in a fight, but enough to see a difference in a stable environment.
Stolen story; please report.
‘Boss, what do we do now?’ Bones’ restless voice resounded in my mind.
The initial plan had been to train my magic, but I felt the hope for adventure through our bond.
‘The Academy has its own garrison as support. Let’s go and explore it. Maybe we can find you some weapons and let you experience some fights against me or other soldiers. You need experience with your new body.’
My buddy perked up, obviously overjoyed by my answer.
‘Yay! I will become invincible!’
He was such a child. Smiling inwardly, I regarded him warmly. A sweet little four-armed mini terminator, so cute.
We left the arcane tower and made our way towards the barracks. They were separated from the rest of the castle by a wooden wall. One needed to cross a checkpoint to enter.
“Stop, what do you want here, young novice? these are the barracks, here are no books hidden!” The laugh of his mate accompanied his remark.
Not letting his joke faze me, I replied good-naturedly, “I know, that’s the reason why I have come. I want to exercise with my sword, otherwise my skills will get rusty. Only because I have magic doesn’t mean that I should forget the rest.”
“Oh, a novice that hasn’t forgotten about the basics. What a rare sight! You know how it is, it doesn’t matter how powerful your spells are, if we get a sword through your chest you will die all the same. I like you. You can pass!”
The two guards visibly approved of my mindset and moved to the side.
I kept my cheerful attitude until I had left them far behind. There was no need to weight magic against the martial path. Both had their strengths and weaknesses. I would use both to reach the apex.
Not long later, I had reached a deserted training area. As I had expected, countless swords and axes hung on the wall. Ready to be used by trainees.
“Bones, slip into your suit and grab yourself some weapons for your other three arms, it is time to have some fun!”
My mini terminator materialized out of thin air. He fell from two feet onto the ground. Bones righted himself up. His arms and head rotated independently, checking out his reach and maneuverability. A Human would have died if he had executed the same moves. Yet for Bones it didn’t even register as problematic.
‘Yes, Boss! This will be fun!’
At least he remembered to be silent in public.
My partner rushed over to the wall and grabbed a short-sword and two axes. He swung his four arms around, getting a feel for the weapons.
Remembering the annoying fight against his predecessor, I spoke up. “Bones, throw me a sword.” With so many weapons coming my way in the near future I preferred to fight with two weapons.
He did as asked. A piece of hardened steel flew through the air in my direction. I easily caught it. We both stood, facing each other. He grinned. ‘I am ready!’
My lips widened. “Attack!”
Not waiting a second, he rushed me. My partner’s swords crashed into mine. The two axes didn’t wait long either. Soon I was beset from all sides. The sounds of colliding weapons rung through the immediate area.
The stabs and swings didn’t force me to go all out. His inexperience showed, letting me avoid most of his attacks or deflect them easily. I ramped up my speed, pushing the little monster to its limits.
The flames that burned in his eye-sockets shrunk in concentration. His attacks improved. At first I thought it was a fluke, but his attacks got trickier and trickier. Inwardly, I felt happy. He had the makings of a real battle-maniac.
I had kept my overview over the surroundings while we fought. I instantly caught the two soldiers moving closer to our position. They simply watched for the time-being. I had no problems with that.
I observed them further while I pushed my little brother to new heights. The little skeleton digging into his reserves to do so.
Bones had reached the end of his rope. I parried two of his weapons with my left weapon while the other one took care of his remaining arms. We stood for a split second in a tie. At least he believed that. His eyes convoying as much. He thought he had caught himself a breather. That instantly changed when I lifted my leg and kicked him with full force into the ribcage.
He flew through the air, only coming to a halt when he crashed into the stone wall on the other side of the field.
“Every part of the body is a weapon. Never forget that.”
The little heap of bones that was my brother lay at the bottom of said structure. Shaking his head, he slowly raised himself.
The silence got broken by a lonesome clapping of hands.
I turned my head and regarded the two newcomers.
“That was a beautiful fight! Especially the ending. You were completely right. Every part of the body is a weapon and should be used as such. My name is Torsk. I must say I am quite surprised to see a mage so adept at fighting with the sword.”
His garments didn’t give me much to work with. He wore no armor or sign of rank that clued me in on who he was. Yet his quiet relaxedness and surety let me believe it was better to not cross him. The second man held himself diagonally behind him. That supported my feeling even further.
“Hello Torsk, it is nice to meet you. Yes, I like to keep myself fit. I am of the opinion that one shouldn’t leave the rest of his skills to rot only because one has awakened to magic. I have come here to train me and my familiar in the way of the sword. Do you know by chance who I should speak with if I want to spar with some of the recruits? It would be a simple match of skill, not strength. They would best me in that easily.”
Actually, I planned to set up Bones in the barracks as a trainings-dummy. He would have to keep his mouth shut and had to play the dumb skeleton, as normal familiars didn’t have the range of emotions and cleverness he possessed. At least that was the case for the monsters below the fifth tier. The posting would give Bones invaluable experience in fighting different opponents.
Both parties would benefit from this occasion. The recruits could learn how to fight four armed opponents and they had to content with my brother’s unique fighting style, which he undoubtedly would develop in the near future. But it was still too early. I first needed to build a connection with the people here. At the moment, I had no worth in their eyes.
Torsk rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look.
“Why don’t you let me spare with you for a round and I will tell you if it makes sense for you to have a go at some of the recruits?”
I nodded. “It would be my pleasure.”
Bones walked out of the area, making space for my new adversary. I threw one sword away. If the enemy didn’t have four arms, I preferred to fight with one weapon.
Torsk moved into a relaxed stance. “Attack when you are ready.”
I followed his order and slowly advanced in his direction. The closer I got, the deeper I buried myself in my fighter persona. I needed to show him some of my skills, otherwise he wouldn’t invest time in me.
The warrior easily parried my first probing swing. He didn’t push back, so I attacked more. Torsk’s movements were held to a minimum, even so he kept up with my swings and stabs. He let me slip into an attacking pattern, trying to force me to become predictable. Naturally, I let him. The hunter in me versed in this sort of games.
His muscles only moved a tiny fraction, yet the change registered in my subconsciousness. I suddenly stepped back letting the lightning fast counter fly past me. As quickly as he attacked, I re-countered and forced him to turn further away from me.
Instead of willfully parrying and loosing his balance, he moved further and turned his body. The sudden backward kick should have taken me by surprise, but I had easily read the signs. Other people would have missed the chance, not me. My body stepped forward, moving closer to him. The closeness forced the kick out of the optimal range. It allowed me to grab onto his incoming leg. Now too close for a stab myself, I rammed my sword arm with the fist closed into his neck. Pushing his upper body forward, my own leg swept his remaining leg.
It should have been the end of the fight. One moment he was on direct head first collision course with the ground, the next moment he had somehow vanished from my grip and stood six feet away from me.
Torsk observed me with a smile on his face.
“Very good! Tactical approach, good instincts, planning and skills! The only thing that you lack is power and speed. It is only logical for a mage.”
I kept my face neutral, still ready to react should he attack.
Torsk recognized my ongoing readiness. In response he stepped back another step.
“I think you will have no problems sparring with the recruits as long as they don’t go all out. When will you be able to visit again?”
Good, I had made an impression.
“Tomorrow we will go dungeon-diving, I won’t have time. But after tomorrow in the early afternoon I should have a slot were I have nothing scheduled.”
“Good. When you arrive at the guard-post, tell them to lead you to the novice training area. I will be there, overseeing their training.”
I bowed lightly in appreciation. After I had fought some fights against them and build some contacts, I would be able to safely insert Bones there.
“By the way, can I buy some weapons here? My familiar needs a starter set.” Looking over at Bones’s arms I changed my sentence. “Scrap that, he needs two.”
“There is a smithy further down the road. Although it is already closed. You can borrow the exercise weapons for tomorrow and later buy better ones.”
I nodded my head in thanks. They were blunt, but with enough power they should work. After tomorrow I would buy Bones new ones.
Torsk and his friend left us as we wanted to train some more. I pushed Bones through some more drills. Feeling the pride of a father and big brother as he improved visibly during every fight.