Azura actually felt a lot better after all their ‘team building exercises.’ Turns out tag and blitz ball are great stress relievers. Luna was pretty much the undisputed champion of tag, but blitz ball had been a bit more even. Although dividing up the teams was a game in and of itself. All in all he had a lot of fun, and frankly he had really needed the de-stresser. It would be back to business tomorrow, but for now they were all content to just hang out. They were laid out in the grass.
“Well I can say with certainty that team building exercises are awesome. That was a lot of fun, we should try to get some in at least once a week.” It wasn’t really surprising that Lily hadn’t really gotten to play games when she was little, she made up for lack of experience with almost Roran levels of enthusiasm.
“I totally agree, studying all the different magic around here is fantastic, but it’s definitely fun to let loose every now and then!” Frankly he was just impressed that Roran laid down for this long. Apparently the over eager boy could be relatively still when he wanted. Was boy appropriate? He wondered, technically Roran was older than him, but physically he was still quite young.
“You guys are crazy. I’ve never seen anyone take a few childrens games so seriously before, but I guess I don’t really mind.” Siara gave a long suffering sigh to counteract her claim. He chuckled a little. Siara was definitely the only normal one in their group. At first she was pretty lax when playing the games, but after it became clear that the rest of them were going just short of all out in the game she quickly raised her game. Mostly to avoid being caught in the crossfire of their intensity.
“My father used to say, if you don’t plan on taking something seriously, why do it at all. Can’t say he says a lot of things I agree with, but if there was 1 thing not related to tactics then it would be that.” Besides this way, it was both fun and really good training, perhaps not as good as actual training exercises, but certainly not a waste.
“Well it’s certainly good for kicking us into gear. I don’t think I’ve ever run so fast as when Luna was chasing me.” He chuckled at the message in his mind. He heard chuckles emanating from some of the friends surrounding him, but his new set of ears picked up a sound he would have missed before. A slight squeak from where Luna had laid down. He chuckled, it looked like the game's adrenaline had worn off, and she was back to shy embarrassed Luna.
“Yeah that was a surprise, who knew Luna’s combat mode would extend to games. She was even more intense than the rest of us.” He heard the faint groan, and his smirk grew. He could picture how red she was. It kind of amazed him how different Luna was when she got into a competitive or life or death situation. It wasn’t like she became a different person. She was still kind and caring, but she was confident in those situations so sure of herself which was of course completely unlike how she normally acted.
“I don’t know about that, you got pretty intense yourself. I’m pretty sure I saw some glowing symbols appear on you a few times.” He laughed, figures Katy would have noticed that. Sue him, he was a little competitive, nothing wrong with that.
“You can’t prove anything.” That got a chuckle from the rest of their gathered party, Luna’s was probably more from relief than anything as the conversation shifted away from her. The sun hadn’t quite abandoned them for the day, but he did notice that it was about to the end of its journey on this side of the planet. “On an unrelated note, who wants to get some dinner?”
A loud groan permeated the air. “But then I have to get up.” He laughed. Lily was really improving in her physical abilities, but she was still on the lazy side.He laughed. It was always extra amusing when someone he had seen do incredible things in combat didn’t want to do something as simple as get up to go get food. He winced as he remembered that they all got the same amusement when he didn’t know how to do something most people considered basic. At least Cynthia was as bad as him on that front, but no one seemed to think it was funny when she didn’t know.
“True, but if you don’t get up you won’t get food.” The argument wasn’t as effective on Lily as it would be on Roran or himself, but she still needed sustenance to survive so he figured it would work.
“Nooooo. Why don’t you have a copy to get us all food? You said you weren’t using them to study today since it was a rest day right?” Ok, so his little white lie was unintentionally called out, or at least he hoped it was unintentional. Besides it wasn’t technically a lie, they weren’t studying. He had a couple working on the physical part of making armor and weapons, he’d need to do the magic part later, but it would help to have the physical stuff out of the way. The other pair were exploring to help him get a more in depth lay of the land.
He groaned dramatically. “No way, if I’m going to walk all the way to the cafeteria you lot are coming with me.” That was believable right? By Roran’s chuckle he assumed it was, though he didn’t fail to notice the slight twitch from Katy that he assumed to mean she was suspicious now. At least now he knew how she almost always seemed to know when he was hiding something, his new senses were incredible.
“Remembering walking after the copy dispels, and actually walking yourself are not the same.” He rolled his eyes. He understood where Lily was coming from, but he rather disliked it when people told him about his unique magic. Especially when they seemed to think they knew its intricacies.
“It’s the same end result. The only difference is if they do something that leads to exhaustion I don’t get tired. Otherwise as far as I can tell I might as well have done it myself. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to distinguish between normal memories and copy memories. In fact I have several memories I’m actually unsure whether it was me or a copy.” Probably thousands of them actually. It was easy enough when it was recent, but for memories from years ago it was extremely hard to tell.
It was Lily’s turn to groan. “Ugh fine, send them out to die all the time, but asking them to walk all alone is too much. Just let me lay down for another half hour.” He chuckled. That was fair. Although he certainly didn’t enjoy the deaths of his copies, it was better to remember dying, than to actually be dead. That didn’t stop a frown from coming to his face when some of the horribly painful deaths he had experienced came to the forefront of his mind. Thankfully none of them had ever really asked him about it. Katy had most likely warned them it was a sensitive subject.
“I can live with that.” Not that he particularly wanted to lay around for half an hour with his current train of thought. If nothing else the countless deaths that lingered painfully in his nightmares, made almost everything else seem insignificant in comparison. How was one supposed to care about a broken arm, when they’ve had all of their limbs brutally mangled in the past. He shuddered. His father had killed his copies in many creative ways, he said not only would it help him prepare for more things, but that if he had no fear of death his copies wouldn’t either.
It had worked in a way, he never hesitated to send his copies to their slaughter, and they never hesitated to go through with it. He wasn’t afraid to die, the only reason he wouldn’t do those things himself is because it would be impractical. After all, if he died that would be that. Not being afraid of dying wasn’t the same as being ok with it though, and he’d probably never escape the nightmares. His father would say that made him weak, but in his mind it was only a weakness if he let it affect him. With that in mind he banished the memories from his thoughts, and decided to focus on the nice breeze that blew through the grassy field they currently laid on.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
***
Azura had to say he was quite excited. Another week had passed before he knew it, and tomorrow would be sunday. He was rather curious what kind of event would be held. He had analyzed all the classes this week to see if there was any kind of theme that might be a hint for the event that would be held on Sunday. He hadn’t found anything, but the process had been interesting. He had also finally managed to get a solid grasp on clairvoyance, though Luna was still struggling a bit with the anti-magic field.
That was to be expected really, enchantment was a less popular form of magic for a reason. Enchantments offer a wide range of abilities making it perhaps the most versatile branch of magic, but that versatility comes with the cost of it also being one of the most complicated. Either way Luna was progressing admirably. At the rate she was picking it up she’d have the spell mastered before the end of the 4th week of classes. It had definitely been a worthy trade for him, even considering how much more complex the enchantment was from her clairvoyance spell. More complex didn’t always equal better, and he was finding her spell was extremely useful.
It wasn’t extremely mana heavy, and it offered a host of uses. It required fairly impressive mana control, but he had been fairly skilled at that already, and Luna had offered a lot of helpful tips on that front. He was perhaps a little over eager to try out his newly acquired spell in the event that would be held tomorrow. He idly checked the time, noting that there was only a little over an hour before the last batch of classes finished for the day. He had already attended all of the available classes for the day. He had actually rather enjoyed the field tactics class. Most of it was stuff he already knew, but the part about managing equipment and other logistics had been rather eye opening for him.
The memories of one of his copies returned to him. Nothing overwhelming, but certainly not wasted time. He was definitely glad to have his exploration of the school grounds more or less complete. Although it did leave him with the uncomfortable choice of telling Katy he had found a secret passage. If there was 1 there was more, and no one was better at finding hidden things than Katy. On the other hand she didn’t have much in the way of free time, and he didn’t really want to ask her to use it just to help him find more passages. He’d manage on his own for now, it wasn’t like they were in any particular hurry as far as the passages went. He’d have 4 years to find them all.
The bigger concern was as always what to do about his father. It truly was a miracle that Garrion had been able to break his blood oath with that ice dragon, or he’d be doomed. No amount of copies would allow him to fulfill his oath and find a way to stop his father from nulling his contract at the same time. A smile came to his face as his thoughts sparked with a new idea. He might not be able to come up with a way to save his sister in just 6 months, but he might just be able to find a way to make it so normal methods wouldn’t break his contract. Then he could act like he was obeying his fathers wishes and that something out of his control was preserving his existing contract. A new plan in mind: it was time to get to work.
***
Azura may have made a mistake. He was exhausted; he had been up all night researching ways to preserve a spirit contract, and the extra memories of his copies doing the same definitely weren’t helping his foggy mind or the aches that seemed to go all the way to his very core. He groaned. All the excitement he had previously had for the event today had long since evaporated. He used magic to soothe the aches and pains. It wouldn’t fully refresh him, but at least his body would have the benefits of being well rested even his mind wouldn’t.
Even worse he hadn’t even found his solution, the research had just been so interesting he hadn’t been able to bring himself to stop. That was fine though, he still had time. He debated missing the event to catch up on sleep, but ultimately knew that the event would probably be even better training if he had to try his best while in sub-par condition. If nothing else he had learned to carefully control his mana when he was in an exhausted state. One incident with that was more than enough for him.
So Reluctantly he got himself ready to meet up with his friends who would all no doubt notice his current state. He took some comfort in knowing he could hide it well enough that anyone who didn’t know him well would have no idea he was in anything less than perfect condition. He once again was quite thankful to his little self cleaning enchantment. So what if he didn’t know how to do laundry, he could get clothes clean, and all that really mattered was the end result surely. Unfortunately he wouldn’t risk adding a self cleaning enchantment to his own body. Putting enchantments on yourself was extremely dangerous, even with his advantage of having copies to place the enchantment.
Putting enchantments on any living creature was a pretty risky process, but self enchantments most of all. Since the magic being used to make it was your own, it was rather difficult to accept it being etched into you without adjusting it any, and any accidental adjusting could cause disastrous consequences. The risk hadn’t stopped him from doing it, but it did limit which enchantments he thought were valuable enough to take the risk. Given that he honestly enjoyed hot showers and baths, a self cleaning one firmly fell under the not worth it category.
In fact after said hot shower he felt much better. Still tired from a lack of sleep, but definitely more alert than he had been before. It also helped refresh his body even more, and he knew he was going to need to get as close to 100% as possible if he wanted to do well with whatever event the teachers had in mind. It didn’t take him too long to get ready, and thanks to Cynthia, gathering with the group was always a relatively simple affair.
“Woah, you look terrible, did you not sleep at all?” He sighed, Lily was blunt as ever. He happened to know that he looked almost exactly like normal. Maybe there was slight discoloration under his eyes from lack of sleep, but surely nothing so crazy as to be called looking terrible.
“Honestly surprised it took this long for him to show up like that. Forgetting to sleep is a pretty common mistake for him.” He rolled his eyes. Katy had been making fun of him for said habit almost as long as they’d known each other.
“Yeah, yeah it’s bad for my health. I know, but sometimes things need to get done, and I don’t have time to do them all during the day.” The statement itself was true, but obviously they all knew it didn’t really apply to the current situation.
“Unless you want to tell me you figured out what this event was going to entail and you stayed up all night preparing. I’m pretty sure you don’t have anything that pressing.” Katy’s smug expression said she knew as well as he did that he did in fact not discover what the event was going to entail.
“Oh come on guys leave him be. He was probably just excited for today! I know I am. What kind of super awesome magic are they going to show us?! Will we be competing or working together?! Ooooh it’s all so exciting.” He smiled, despite the headache Roran’s enthusiasm brought on it was still nice to see him be all excited about this. Roran definitely had a way of putting everyone in a good mood.
“Yeah, you got me. It was definitely excitement keeping me up.Although I must say if you didn’t sleep, and are still like this then you must actually have unlimited energy.” Honestly he would love to steal just a bit of that energy at the moment. Roran laughed loudly while a few other soft chuckles emanated from the group.
Roran looked like he was about to shout some more, but Siara quickly cut him off. “I get the excitement part, but could you maybe lower the volume? We’ll probably want our eardrums intact when we take part in whatever the event ends up being.”
“Imagine what it’s like when you have an extra pair of super sensitive ears.” Katy said as she messaged her no doubt ringing cat ears. Thankfully he hadn’t gotten used to how good his new senses were yet, so he usually left them sealed off. Otherwise he’d probably be in a good deal of pain right now.
“We should probably get going. They are going to be announcing the games soon, and I’m pretty sure we definitely don’t want to miss it.” She was definitely right about that. He looked towards the big grassy plain they had cleared out to hold the event. He was quite excited to see what they had in store.