The audience sitting around the arena in Athena Academy sat in stunned silence. They had expected the tournament to last half the day. 15 minutes had passed, and it was over.

During the first match, Thomas knocked John’s sword out of his hand with a lazy blow. John was so shocked by this that he fell to his knees. He looked up to see that his opponent had an empty smile. Then, Thomas made an announcement.

“If none of you can beat me, this tournament is a waste of everyone’s time. All of you, come out to face me one one-on-one,” he said.

“There’s no way we’re doing that,” Sir William stated.

A student left his tent.

“I’m sorry, Sir William, but please let us fight Thomas! He challenged us all! It would go against our honor to leave it unanswered!” the student said.

“If you put it that way, there isn’t much I can do,” the knight sighed.

That student charged Thomas. His sword was knocked from his hand. Every match ended the exact same way.

“The winner of this tournament is Sir Thomas Aleworth!” William declared.

Applause was about to come out of the crowd; however, Thomas spoke first.

“Everyone, please cheer for my opponents and not me. They fought their hardest,” he said.

“That bastard,” a student gritted her teeth.

“He’s mocking us,” another pupil stated.

John had been brought out of the arena after his match. He was leaning against a fence. His jaw was slack. Nathaniel was sitting next to him.

“That Thomas kid’s a real ass,” Nathaniel said.

His lord didn’t reply.

Maria walked over with a waterskin. She placed it to John’s mouth.

“Are you thirsty?’ she asked.

He didn’t reply.

“John, are you alright?” Maria questioned.

“I’d have been fine with losing, but I lost in the first round in one hit,” her fiancé said.

“We all lost that way,” Nathaniel stated.

John’s voice had no emotion in it.

“But I trained harder than anyone else. I did my best to prepare to have everyone be my rival, but that was all for nothing,” he said.

“You have a rival now: Thomas,” Nathaniel assured him.

“Idiot. We’re not rivals,” John shook his head.

“I thought that you’d want to surpass him,” Maria said.

“Is a lizard rivals with a dragon? Is a gentle breeze rivals with a storm? No. No matter how much I trained, I could never beat Thomas.”

Thomas leaned over the fence.

“Are you sure about that? You have a lot of potential,” he stated.

“Just leave me alone,” John said.

“You’re right that you’ll never be as good as me, but you can get good enough that you could still beat me sometimes,” Thomas assured him.

“I said: just leave me alone!” John snapped.

Thomas backed away.

“Okay. Thank you for fighting me,” he said.

The boy left, and John buried his head in his hands.

“Damn it all,” John muttered.

“Let’s get you back to your dorm,” Maria said.

“Fine. Take me back to my room, but bring your poetry. I’ll listen to it there.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to rest?”

“I can rest and listen to it,” John stated.

“So, you’re not jumping back into training?” Nathaniel asked.

“No. You two were right. I should have taken breaks and rested. I just wore myself out for nothing,” John said.

Sometime later, Sigismund walked into the forest outside Athena Academy with visible apprehension. He looked around with a careful gaze. The boy took a deep breath.

“Gustava wanted me to come here to face my fears. I can’t back down now. I can’t disappoint her,” he said.

Sigismund stepped forward. The forest seemed darker than usual to him. While the wind was warm today, Sigismund thought it felt as cold as ice. His gaze turned to the shadows under the trees. Anything could be hiding in there.

“I have to face my fears to become a work of art. This is part of the past of self-mastery.”

The boy took steady breaths even as his limbs shook. He went deeper into the woods. Soon, Sigismund couldn’t see the school’s gate when he looked behind him. Sweat trickled down his forehead.

Then, Sigismund heard leaves rustling overhead. He turned pure white. His head slowly looked up. Sigismund saw the branches moving.

A googly-eyed clay spider dropped down from the tree. It bounced on a single string.

Sigismund screamed. Gustava came tumbling from the branches above. She landed on him, sending them both to the ground. The fake spider landed on Sigismund’s face. He tried to push it off with his hands, but they were stuck under Gustava.

“Get it away from me, get it away from me!” Sigismund said.

His face was contorted in an expression of complete and utter terror.

Gustava had been holding the string in her hand. She swung it to the side, pulling the fake spider away from Sigismund. He breathed a massive sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” he said.

“I didn’t expect you to be that scared,” Gustava replied.

“Could we talk more after you get off me?” Sigismund asked.

Gustava realized that their chests were touching and jumped off Sigismund. There was a massive blush on her face.

“Sorry about that,” she said.

Sigismund got up.

“You’re not mad about the…physical contact?” he wondered.

A blush formed on Sigismund’s face.

“I’m the one who fell on you. It’d be unreasonable for me to get mad,” Gustava said.

She held the fake spider up. Sigismund shied away.

“I mean, I expected it to startle you, Siggy, but not to terrify you,” she stated.

“Please keep that thing away from me,” Sigismund said.

“It’s obviously fake. I mean, it just looks silly,” Gustava pointed out.

“Yes, but it’s still a spider.”

Gustava burst into laughter, dropping the clay object.

“What’s so funny?” Sigismund asked.

“You’re as good a fighter as I am. You could kill a bear with just a sword. And yet, you’re afraid of a silly thing I made in 5 minutes!” she answered.

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Sigismund laughed too.

“That is pretty funny!” he said.

The two of them laughed for a full 10 minutes before calming down.

“Thank the gods no one saw us like this,” Gustava said.

“We’d be in real trouble if someone did,” Sigismund stated.

His eyes turned to the fake spider. It had survived falling to the ground.

“I’ll throw this out,” Gustava told him.

“Don’t. I need to face my fears. This is a good place to start.”

Sigismund took a deep breath. He stepped forward with care, approaching the fake spider with fear in his eyes. Sweat poured down Sigismund’s brow. His hands trembled as he knelt in front of the spider.

With one hand, Sigismund stretched out. He looked away from the fake spider as his hand got closer. One of Sigismund’s fingertips touched the spider. The boy jumped back as fast as he could.

“It’s still really scary,” he said.

“Well, considering how terrified you were of it, you did a good job,” Gustava stated.

“Thanks. I think that’s enough fears for today. I might scare myself to death if we keep going.”

Gustava sighed.

“This is going to take a long time,” she said.

Then, Gustava smiled.

“But I’m not getting over my self-hatred anytime soon, so I don’t mind that at all.”

Sigismund focused his attention on her.

“You helped me today,” he said. “How do you feel?”

“I don’t feel like we accomplished much,” Gustava stated.

“Do you feel like you’ve done enough?” Sigismund asked.

“No. Not at all. I feel like I failed you,” she answered.

“Then there’s only one thing to do: grab that spider and shove it in my face.”

“What?”

“I’m going to run, so you’d better be ready to chase me,” Sigismund said.

“I don’t think that’s going to help,” Gustava stated. “It’ll probably make things worse.”

“Dammit all,” he thought.

“I’m starting to feel a second wind. Go and grab one of the other things you were going to scare me with,” Sigismund said.

“Okay. I have a fake snake, but I think the third thing I planned would be better. Meet me at the base of the don jon,” Gustava instructed.

She walked off. Sigismund waited a few moments so no one would see them together. Then, he moved out.

The don jon was the tallest tower at Athena Academy. It stretched so high in the sky that it made the people below look like ants. Rather than being decorated with red, purple stripes made their way up the building. On top was a great golden orb with numerous windows in it.

Sigismund stared up at the breathtaking sight.

“This is pretty amazing,” he said.

He saw Gustava nearby and walked over to her.

“What’s a coward like you doing here?” she asked.

“I could ask the same thing about you,” Sigismund stated.

“I’m going to the top of that tower,” Gustava declared. “Now, get out of my way if you know what’s good for you.”

“You’ll just get kicked out by whoever lives in there.”

“This tower is only used when a monarch’s staying at the academy. Right now, there’s no one inside. That means I’m free to see the majestic view from the top.”

They were noticed by nearby people. A crowd started to gather.

“As if a chicken shit like you would even make it halfway up there,” Sigismund said.

“You’re the only chicken shit here. I bet you’ll be crying by the time we get a quarter of the way up there,” Gustava stated.

“Then let’s go up that tower and see who makes it up the furthest. The rest of you, stay out of this! This is our fight.”

The two marched through the door while shooting looks of contempt at each other. After that, the crowd dispersed. One person who had watched Gustava and Sigismund turned to another.

“Should we tell Lord and Lady Lejon that Gustava’s dating the Myrksalr boy?” he asked.

“Are you insane? Lord Lejon doesn’t have much time left, and Lady Lejon will only be regent for a few years. If we piss off Gustava now, she’ll fuck us over when she becomes the head of the House Lejon!”

Sigismund and Gustava stood at the bottom of a grand spiral staircase. It circled around a great pillar that stretched into the darkness above. Numerous sconces filled with bunt-out candles lined the walls. The floor was covered in beautiful mosaic stone, and the walls were painted with glorious images of the gods. Still, most of the tower was pitch black.

Gustava and Sigismund summoned magic lights in their hands. They started the trek up the tower. For the first 20 steps, they kept silent. Then, Sigismund spoke.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s following us,” he said.

“I agree,” Gustava replied.

They continued their walk. Sigismund felt an increased sense of nervousness.

“We must be really high up at this point. It’s…I need to keep my mind off things,” he thought.

“Gustava, why do you think they use candles here instead of magic lights?” Sigismund asked.

“It’s probably for the imagery. Candle lights shade things in a way that magic lights don’t,” Gustava answered.

“Yeah, that’s probably it.”

The hairs on Sigismund’s back stood up. His hands shook. He refused to look behind him. Sigismund worried that if he did, he’d turn and run.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Gustava wondered.

“I’m terrified,” he said.

“We don’t have to keep going.”

“I do.”

They walked in silence for a time. The stairs seemed to stretch on forever. Gustava looked behind them. Because the staircase was spiral-shaped, she couldn’t see all the way to the bottom.

“It’s probably best that I can’t see far down. I can’t let myself be afraid. Siggy’s doing his best to be brave, but he’s probably in a terrible state deep down,” Gustava thought.

After a few more moments, she spoke.

“Siggy, I want to hold your hand and tell you that it’ll be fine since you’re with me. I want to comfort you. I don’t want you to be scared. But you don’t want to rely on me or anyone else. Why?”

Sigismund stopped.

“It’s because self-mastery is about me controlling myself. If I rely on someone else, I haven’t really controlled myself. Someone else did it for me,” he said.

Then, Sigismund turned to Gustava. He expected her to have tears in her eyes. Sigismund was surprised to see a wide smile on her face.

“Siggy, in case anyone hasn’t told you, you’re really cool,” Gustava stated.

Sigismund gave a small smile back.

“You’re actually a really nice girl, Gustava,” he told her.

“What? No, I’m not. When we first met, I tried to kill you just because my parents wanted me to even though you…”

“It’s fine, Gustava. Your real personality was repressed. You’re finally becoming who you really are that you’re out of your parents’ influence.”

“Are you sure it’s just that I’m a nice person? It could be that I just respect you a lot,” Gustava said.

“It could be both,” Sigismund replied.

She let out a chuckle.

“Siggy, I respect you and your goal. Is there any way I can help you right now without making you rely on me?”

“You already did,” Sigismund said. “After saying things like that, there’s no way I can back down.”

He continued walking up the stairs with renewed vigor. Fear closed around Sigismund; however, he pushed past it.

Sigismund’s pace quickened. This wasn’t out of fear but from a burning pride in his heart. Gustava kept her same walking speed and fell behind. When Sigismund noticed she wasn’t by his side, he dared turn back.

Gustava was right behind him. She gave him a thumbs up. Sigismund continued upwards.

He reached the golden dome on top of the tower. The interior was a beautiful bedroom. To say it was fit for a king was an understatement. It was fit for the entire royal family.

Sigismund walked to one of the windows and looked outside. He could see the entire academy from there. The boy looked down. An incredible sense of vertigo came over him, but he didn’t falter.

After a few moments, Sigismund moved away from the window. Relief was on his face. However, a satisfied smile was also present. He turned to see if Gustava made her way up there.

Gustava was sitting on a couch right under a window. The light beaming in made her hair shine. Her face was calm as she gave Sigismund a smile. At that moment, he thought she looked like a goddess.

“Did you overcome your fear?” she asked.

“It’ll take a lot more than one trip up here to do that, but this was a good start,” he answered.

Sigismund sat next to Gustava on the couch.

“How do you feel?” Sigismund wondered.

“I actually feel a bit of accomplishment. I feel like I could have done more, but I didn’t hate this,” Gustava said.

“That’s good,” he replied.

“Hey, Siggy, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Your philosophy is very individualistic, but you’re going to become the owner of a fief. What will you do then?” Gustava asked.

“I’ll be the best damn lord I can be. I can’t just drop out of being the head of my house, so I’ll make sure everyone I rule over has a good life,” Sigismund answered.

“That’s the type of lord I want to be too,” she said.

“There’s one other thing. It’s a bit ambitious, but I want to give the people under me the ability to pursue the overman ideal if they want to.”

“That’s impossible for most of them. Not just being the overman. They can’t even start on it. Their lives are too controlled,” Gustava stated.

“I know that. As long as serfdom exists, most people won’t even be able to think of being what I am. That’s why I have to get rid of serfdom,” Sigismund replied.

Most people would be shocked by Sigismund’s words. For a noble, they were unthinkable. Even most commoners would think Sigismund was far too ambitious. Gustava just had a question.

“Do you have any idea how to do that?”

“Not a clue. I’ll figure it out somehow.”

“Is this something you can rely on someone for?” Gustava asked.

“Yes. But is getting rid of serfdom what you really want to do?” Sigismund questioned.

“You ask me what I want to do a lot,” she said.

“I think you should have a goal of your own, something that doesn’t have anything to do with me,” he replied.

“My goal is to get over my self-hatred.”

“And then what? It’ll probably take a while, but you might stop hating yourself in a few weeks,” Sigismund said.

“After that, I think I want to be the best lady I can. I’m the heir to my house, too, you know,” Gustava stated.

“At least that’s something separate from me,” he nodded.

“Siggy, why do you want me to have a goal that has nothing to do with you?”

“Because you’re only helping me out out of gratitude. You should do something for yourself,” Sigismund said.

“You think that I’ve just been around you because you’ve helped me?” Gustava’s face turned dark.

“That’s the reason why, right?”

Gustava took a deep breath. She laughed.

“Laughing at me again twice in one day?” Sigismund wondered.

“No, I’m laughing at myself. I thought I was being open, but I wasn’t,” Gustava said.

A look of worry crossed Sigismund’s face.

“You don’t have to worry,” she assured him. “I don’t hate myself over this. I’m just glad you brought this up before it was too late.”

“If you want to start being open, now’s a good time. Nothing you’re saying makes sense,” Sigismund said.

“Alright, I’ll be blunt. I’m grateful to you, Siggy, but that’s not why I want to be with you. I think your dedication to self-mastery is really cool. I like how you respect me, and I like that I can respect you even more. I like how you follow your own code of honor and not anyone else’s. I think the fact that you were able to reach out to me back when we were enemies was awesome. I like that you’re happy to support me and help me out too. I think you’re handsome and manly. I mean, you admit to your flaws and don’t care what anyone thinks about them. Only a really manly man would do that. And I have so much fun when I’m training together with you. And don’t worry about distracting me from getting through my self-hatred. Your mere presence helped me so much,” Gustava stated.

Her smile was warmer than a thick blanket. Sigismund leaned back on the couch.

“Let me tell you what I think of you. Just like you, I love our mutual respect. I like how you’re able to admit that you have a lot of self-hatred. I know that sort of thing isn’t easy. I like how kind and caring you are, both of me and Ogier. It’s also really cool that you’re willing to support my self-mastery while also respecting that I can’t rely on you for it. I like the way you smile, your two-colored hair, your heterochromatic eyes, and that you’re strong without being an ass about it. And, I also love training with you. It’s really fun,” Sigismund said.

For a moment, the two sat in silence. They basked in the sunlight coming in through the windows.

“Hey, Siggy,” Gustava said. “Let’s go on a date.”