27: I’M NOT WEAK
//
3:07 P.M. // 10 - 27 - 2023 // Arc - Training Center
Starring Zendolyn Ato
Featuring Avil Daniase and Gwen Olynn
//
Professor Justin’s voice boomed, “Everyone, take a look up at the screen!”
The dust kicked up into the air by all of the students moving in closer to get a better view was starting to irritate my nose, and I sneezed, wiping the snot onto the practical uniform. All of the surrounding target dummies and sparring mats and strafing drones, the clanking of weapons against scabbards and sheens and quivers, all getting on my nerves. I shouldered the crossbow on my back.
The sun still high in the sky, I squinted to get a proper view of the giant screen near the entrance of the backdoor into the Training Center. It was sort of like a roster of names, with one paired up with the other making a list all the way down and overflowing into another column. It was very obvious that the list was steadily getting shorter, as students were one by one Awakening and being transferred into other classes.
“You’ll see the name of your sparring partner for today. Call me over if you need something.”
[Jennifer D vs. Mason A]
Just—
[Korina P vs. Robin F]
—names—
[Avil D vs. Christopher Y]
—that—
[Jason T vs. Owen V]
—I—
[Anita J vs. Megan S]
—didn’t—
[Logan P vs. Lea P]
—care—
[Zendolyn A vs. Gwen O]
—abo—ooh! Nah, that’s me, I care about me. And, uhh…
I turned to look at Gwen, who wasn’t that far to my left. Avil stood just in front of her, somehow carrying the shield on his back, looking somewhat concerned at her completely detached expression and her lifeless eyes that I had been pretty aware of ever since yesterday. Gwen herself was fully equipped with the arm bracer, an addition to her weapon for shock absorbant purposes, the rather interesting spiked shoes held in one hand, and the buckled on her wrist closer to me.
Avil glanced around and made eye contact with me. He stuck his chin out, and I shrugged. He rolled his eyes, then pointed at me, then at Gwen, and then flexed his arms while pointing thumbs down. I scratched my head and pointed to her, put my first and second finger together, then brought it to my eyes while ducking in slightly. Avil nodded, and I returned it back exasperatedly. His attention moved elsewhere.
Sure—you know what? Sure. Whatever you say, big man.
“I said, get into your pairs now!” Professor Justin blew up in my ear and made me leap a yard backwards. “You think I didn’t catch you with Avil? Think again, boy.”
To the best of my abilities I switched up acts and solemnly shook my head, “That won’t happen again, Professor.”
He grunted, and then blew up in another pair’s faces as I crossed over to Gwen, who still hadn’t really reacted to the situation at all. I couldn’t tell if she was being slow, sleep deprived, or possibly both, but other than her pale skin nothing seemed wrong.
“Get into your designated areas!” I traced his pointing finger to my right to the larger areas meant for weapon sparring, each enclosed off with colored chalk on the hard dirt floor.
Finally from the corner of my eyes I saw Gwen look up slightly, and I trudged to our area with her following not too far behind. Reaching the end of the zone I turned back around, and as expected Gwen stood on the opposite side, All around me other students were doing the same, like Christopher to my right facing off against Avil all the way on the other side where Gwen was also standing. She kneeled down, pulling off her shoes and putting the spiked pairs on.
“Hey Gwen.”
No response as she kept working them onto her foot.
I tried raising my voice, but still no response. She stood up.
“Oh well, if that’s what’s happening right now—”
“You may begin now!” I was startled again by the Professor.
Wait, huh?
Already?
All of a sudden a burst of noises around me, conflicting cacophonies of weapons being drawn in the frantic rush to take center space, while the grunts of first contact from other zealous fighters made their way to my ears.
“Let’s get this over with,” Gwen finally said over the noise. Her voice was raspy.
I exhaled once. “Yeah.”
I hastily pulled the crossbow off my shoulder, half-expecting a rush as I took my eyes off her for a second, but when I looked back the only change that had happened was a sudden lack of confidence. She raised the buckler to her face in a boxer stance, smartly leaving a small gap to see me through, but this sure wasn’t what she did to me the last two times she fought. Both times against her had left me completely thrashed.
The arrow was pulled from the quiver and loaded quickly and, looking into the sights for a second to align with her, I pulled the trigger.
—CLLLCK
Wincing as it flew about 5 feet wide towards her general direction I loaded in another arrow. Wow. My aim wasn’t getting better at all. The adrenaline pump in my head began to shake as Gwen finally started moving, in slow and deliberate steps.
—CLLKC
Come on, c’mon, c’mon…! Ah, goddammit, another miss, this time flying right past her head.
—CLLLLCKK
—TAAANG
She brought her buckler to her face and the arrow ricocheted off.
—CLLKK
In the next moment she was upon me. I pushed over to the left, the crossbow already loaded, and she followed in much swifter pursuit. Her kick went straight forward, the one thing I couldn’t duck or sweep myself out of, and I barely managed to jump backwards, stumbling the recovery as she went in again.
Somewhere at her shoulder but slightly drifted down to her center I shot the arrow, but it missed completely again, going straight past her side as she lifted her arm, as she dashed to the right catching sight of my trigger happy fingers.
I bit my tongue as I danced around the edge of the training area as she recovered her stance, and then she lowered herself, pushing off the ground towards me in pursuit. It seemed like she was slower than usual, but I couldn’t really form that thought in my head as I sprung out wide towards the center of the area to avoid a hooked kick. Sweat was starting to appear on the back of my neck, but Gwen looked as pale as ever.
Fumbling in another arrow I at last had the opportunity for a good shot. I too lowered down, one foot stretched far out in front as another held my weight below me, ready to spring back if she advanced towards me. The air passing through my mouth was painfully warm and scratched the back of my throat. Her guard was up again, buckler in front of her face, hands into fists, bent at the knees, eyes on me and the crossbow. She waited for my move. I waited for her’s.
It was a tense stand-off of who would deign to move first.
—CLLAAANG
—DDDDMPTT
—Bpp Bpp Bpp
Metal clashing against metal.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
To my left Avil was being bombarded with an onslaught of stabs from Christopher’s javelin and looked to be on the losing side.
—TTTckk
—CKK
—CKK
—SSSSTTTT!!
To my right the siblings Lea and Logan were viciously swinging at each other, carefully watched by the Professor and a healer on standby.
At that moment I realized I wasn’t watching Gwen anymore, and with a sudden cold alarm of wind I instinctively pushed my right leg as hard as I could, flying backwards as a loud PPFFF Gwen landing and kicking up dust everywhere.
—CCLLK
I blindly shot into the cloud of dust and heard a sound like metal clanging. I hit the buckler again, damn it! My eyes traveled left and right as I reloaded the crossbow, waiting for her to emerge from anywhere. Other than the other spars taking place around me, this was silent. It was uncannily silent.
The sun beat down on me as the dust began to dissipate.
—BBBPPPPP
Suddenly Gwen came flying out from my right, and before I could react a gasp of shock left me as her kick hit me square in the stomach, the uniform somehow catching the shoespikes that otherwise would have impaled me.
I coughed violently as a sudden shockwave coursed through me, sort of noticing Gwen watching me with certain victory, my head spazzing back and forth, electricity currents that felt sort of like I was being splashed with hot oil all over. This pain distributor was brutal, even with a so-called “mitigation factor” of 3. Then it was over just as fast as it had started, and I reached down to feel the spike holes in the uniform. The edges were frayed, around a hole or two, but all of the other holes were sliced clean through. That feeling was never not going to be unpleasant. I needed a new uniform soon; this was starting to add up on my wallet.
My head buzzed with the feeling of loss and static, though it didn’t dampen my hearing as Gwen muttered something.
“—not weak. Me? Pshh.” She turned her head slightly away from me.
Her expression was totally different now. Eyes wide open revealing the misty ocean depths not looking anywhere in particular, lips quivering, open slightly, Gwen looked like she had something to prove. Angry, frightened, and somewhat pitiful, but definitely scary. Gwen walked by me and it was hard to take my eyes off of her.
What happened to her?
I took a moment to take in everything I was feeling at that moment. Annoyed at my loss, sad at another expense, confused and curious at Gwen. Humbly accepting the healer’s hand beside me I felt a vivid warmth spread through me, up my face, clearing my nose and lightening the burden of thoughts in my head, and easing my muscles. The fatigue evaporated from my body, and I nodded my thanks, an acknowledgement to a powerful healer. She didn’t look back at me as she rushed over towards the next loser, literally shocked after having been stabbed with a javelin… ah.
“You too, Avil? I saw you holding up pretty good back there,” my pretty voice slightly hoarse from the zapping, I paced over to him as he looked up at me with a pissed look on his face, following Christopher as the guy walked over tiredly to report his win to the Professor. No one liked to lose. “What happened?” I kneeled down by him and slid my fingers across his shield. It was smooth and relatively undamaged, though I could make out small marks here and there, nicks and scratches from all of the other spars he had been through. He was breathing heavily.
“Bro, that s*** hurts.” Like me there was a hole near his stomach. “F***, that b**** is so annoying.”
“I dunno ‘bout you,” I chuckled knowingly, now unfazed by his cursing, “but I’m getting a factor 4-mitigator next time,” I pointed to the many holes at my stomach area. “Wanna come with me tomorrow?”
With a sort-of groan he pushed himself up onto his feet, and I lifted his shield up for him with a bit of effort. How strong did he have to be in order to lug this thing around like that? “Nah man,” he swiped at his shirt, dusty from his tustle, “I have something after class tomorrow. Sorry about that.”
I shook my head, handing him the shield. I felt like I was missing something. Disappointedly I shook my head, “Do you? Yeah, no worries. I’m working a later shift tomorrow so we probably wouldn’t have too much time anyways,” I said.
“Uhh,” Avil interjected as he took the shield, “where’s your crossbow?”
I blinked.
“Oh yeah.”
As I jogged back over to my training area where the crossbow still layed, Avil catcalled out from behind me, “Zen! Your aim is as s*** as ever!”
//
5:31 P.M. // 10 - 28 - 2023 // Arc - Club Streets Auditorium
Starring Serene Goldwin
Featuring Avil Daniase
//
The moment I walked through the doors, eyes were turning to me from the rows of seats set up for the occasion. A crowd of people, the Travel Club posters all over the school seemed to have worked their jobs well.
“Hey, is that Serene Goldwin?”
“Yeah, I think that’s her.”
“What? Serene? Where?”
“What’s she doing here?”
I closed my eyes. My chest felt tightly knotted. The voices didn’t stop.
“—after, you know, she shot some poor girl.”
“One of the sisters—”
“—Rubia, the other is fine.”
“Someone tell Serene no one wants her here!”
“Everyone, please calm down!!” A person yelled from the back, his voice so jarringly loud I put my hands to my ear and winced. The murmurs died as someone hopped off the stage, a guy around my age or older, about my height, with a light brown butt-cut of a head on an attractive face. A mole on his cheek, almost almond-shaped eyes, a nice jawline and tanned skin, his lashes were quite pretty too, but his worried eyes contrasted the tightly pressed lips, a thin line of thoughts. He seemed to have a little bit of authority as the voices hushed, though not by much.
“Sorry about that, Serene,” he said, his face not changing to match the apology, averting his eyes from mine. Still, the whispers ensued. They hurt, but I had been hurt worse before.
I didn’t respond with words, but once he finally gave me a proper look he understood immediately that I wasn’t there to play around, and apologies were more annoying if anything.
“Excuse me, why—”
“Sure sure,” I responded curtly, and then tapped the gun holster on my waist, “but no. I won’t.”
I brushed past him, whispering into his ear. “Don’t even try to stop me.”
He shivered as I walked towards the aisles, aware of all the eyes on me, then following me he walked around the edges of the stage to the left side and disappeared behind a black door. A moment later, he was up on the stage. I took my seat in the aisle seat at the second row to the front.
The few people sitting in my row gave me the same disgusted look, except now that I was closer I could also see a touch of anxiety. The girl directly behind me was whispering exceptionally loudly, but then shut up immediately as I threw my arm back and over the plastic chair in a resting position. I put it back into my manspread laps as the guy on stage began to speak.
“Hello everyone!” He said loudly above the chattering, which slowly began to die down as he spoke, “I’m surprised to see so many people here today. First off, my name is Henry Solomon, and I am the Travel Club’s president. This is my second year as president, so I can guarantee that we will have fun no matter where we eventually choose to go, which segues into the next point.” Henry paused, the crowd not totally silent, but everyone’s attention was now fully on him.
“As you all know, this meeting is going to be a debate and vote on which country or state we will be traveling to next weekend, with special permission from the school,” he added smartly as a few muttering people were silenced, “and as you know these trips don’t get to happen often. As Arc students your info is already verified into the system, and as a nice benefit you get to go to whatever country you want to go to as long as you have the all-clear from the school. This means we are all technically ready to go anywhere, besides the obvious countries, in the world right now!”
I shook my head, wondering when he was going to get to the actual debate—
“And so let’s start off our discussion with someone from the audience!” Henry announced loudly. “Who wants to go first!”
My hand instantly shot up. To my left, no one in my row moved. To my right in the other row, no movement.
I glanced around. No one had moved, except for one person. He sat in the far back right of the audience. It seemed that the owner of the hand was far too short to be noticed so he had to stand up, slightly blocking the line of sight of someone behind him who I couldn’t fully make out.
Well, this was embarrassing.
He too noticed the only other hand in the air, and we made eye contact. His eyes were large and desperate, an uninteresting grey-ish color, sort of like my own, but his hair was an intriguing dark purple, similar to Ced’s dark blue—was that Avil?
A million different thoughts flashed through my mind.
Ced’s best friend and adoptive brother, I had seen him at least 3 times before, twice at school, once before, so how… the hell… did I forget about Avil?
What did the 55th say about him again?
His arm lowered as I realized I was staring at him too harshly.
“Serene. Are you going to come up or—”
I turned my head to face the stage again, and stood up quickly, my cheeks flushed. It quickly faded away as I stepped out of the row and into the full line of sight of everyone. Taking the long way onto the stage I could see Henry’s gaze on me as I climbed up the steps, pushing away a Guide and an Info screen disguised as flipping my hair.
As I stepped out onto the stage my throat tensed up, my chest tightened, and I felt suffocated by all of the people watching me. All I could see of them were their eyes, all filled with the same distasteful look. All I could see were their eyes.
All distasteful.
He beckoned me forward. I could see a glint in his own eyes.
But I only smirked back, and he faltered as I took my place at the center stage.
“Well, hello everyone.” My face was serene, a dazzling smile boasted across my lips. “I’m sure I don’t need introductions here, but I’ll keep it short.”
I locked eyes with Avil in the back—wait a minute, who was sitting next to him? Was that…
“I-I’m not here to introduce a place I want to go to.” A few mild gasps and hisses from the audience. “I’ll leave that up to you guys. What I’m here for, though…”
I closed my eyes, and then opened them. I could clearly see everyone there. “Whoever convinces me the most will receive my support. If we vote for them, I will give everyone a check to do whatever they want in that country.”
My focus swept back to a surprised Henry, and I could notice a slight blush as I smiled at him as prettily as possible.
“Happy voting.”