Until death?

by Andur

  “My name is Iris, by the way.”, Iris informs me.

  What's up with this little kids slutty behaviour? Is this world mad? What is wrong with the little children here? But Iris... that name sounds familiar.

  And why am I jumped by a girl, only five minutes after I am separated from Celes?

  *Check* “Aahhh!” *Plomb*

  Iris is pushed from my arm and falls flat on the floor. Celes is suddenly beside me, “Don't touch my fiance!”

  “What's wrong with you!?”, Iris screams while standing up.

  “Just taking care of my valuables!”, Celes smiles bright.

  So I am something like a favoured earring after all! Stupid witch, The episode with her alone a few days earlier almost made me waver.

  “Celes, aren't you a little too rude? We don't even know her?”, I try to calm the situation. Though I am thankful to her for removing the slutty child from my arm.

  “Honey, keep out of girls talk, and I wont interfere in boys talk. Do we have an agreement” -Celes

  Uh..... she is playing with her hairpin. Good luck in your next life slutty wolf girl. I only knew you for less than a minute. That's not enough to risk my head for you.

  “Celes, you should probably know that.....”, Tanja wants to say something but....

  “What is going on here!?”, one of the instructors came over.

  “She gave me a body-check for no reason!”, Iris complains to the instructor.

  “Hahaha, you touched and dirtied something valuable to me, horny wolf.”, Celes smiles that perfect smile of hers.

  “We don't use violence outside of a match here, I hope you two will understand that.” -instructor.

  “Then I will have a match with her! I want revenge!”, Iris screams at the instructor.

  Nooo! Slutty wolf girl, you are digging your own grave here! Morden tugs at me, “Angrod, we have to stop them! That's Iris Tulhelm, she feared here for her brutality and is the best newcomer in magic assisted combat! Celes will be hurt!”

  Goodbye slutty wolf girl, now I guess you will make her angry. There won't be much to scrape from the floor.

  “Fine with me, if I win you keep ten meters distance from Angrod!” -Celes

  “Ugh, if I win, the same goes for you!” -Iris

  “You two! Matches aren't made for such a reason! And you Celes? You are a newcomer? You can't just fight an advanced disciple of the master at the first day!” -instructor

  “Where can we fight?”, Celes looks at the instructor.

  “Haven't you heard me?”, instructor starts to get angry. “Let Them Fight!”, an old geezer with a raccoon tail comes up to us. “Everyone has to learn their lesson! Some lessons are harder than others. Better they deal with it in the ring, than anywhere else! Step into the arena.”

  He points to a miniature arena, which is lowered under the level of the normal ground. Celes and Iris make their way down into it.

  “We really have to do something Angrod!”, Tanja Morden is out of herself.

  I step up to the raccoon geezer, I have had bad experiences with those. “Uhm, Master? I guess?”, I ask him.

  “I am teacher Tongord. I supervise this lesson.”, he answers.

  “I think it would be good to call a healer. One will be needed. ….. a good one!”, I tell him and he looks at me with a raised eyebrow, but then he waves at the instructor. The instructor dashes off.

  In the meantime Celes and Iris have taken positions inside the arena. Celes just stands there with folded hands. Iris had taken something like a praying position.

  “You may Go!”, Tongord calls.

  Suddenly Iris explodes with magical energy and disappears, just to reappear before Celes, which didn't even twitch.

  *CRACK!*

  She plants a perfect punch on Celes's chin and Celes is taken five meters up into the air. Iris disappears again and makes a reappearance above Celes. Her left foot impacts on Celes with a terrifying blow *CRUNCH* and Celes is sent down into the arena again.

  Iris pulls her teleportation combo a third time and before Celes can impact the floor, she is hit by another fist.

  *CRACK*

  Celes is sent into the arenas wall. *BAM*

  We can feel the ground shake, as the whole wall collapses over her.

  “Oh, no! I could hear the bones break! Why haven't you stopped this master Tongord!”, Tanja cries out.

  “Hmmmm.....I didn't expect this.”, Tongord answers.

  *BAM!*

  The ground shakes....

  *BAM!*

  The ground shakes again!

  “Oh, Iris has done it, she is angry now! The poor little Iris....”, Tongord and Tanja look at me like I am mad.

  *BAM!*

  The collapsed part of the arena blasts apart and Celes walks out of the dust cloud.

  Iris is still standing where she dealt the last punch. Her eyes go wide, as she sees Celes slowly walking her way.

  Suddenly she turns around and tries to limp away, as if she has a broken foot. Being too slow, Celes reaches her and grabs her good foot.

  *SNAP*

  “KYAAAAA!!”, we hear a pitiful scream as something breaks.

  *WHAM!* *WHAM!* *WHAM!*

  Celes slams Iris three times into the ground like a child, playing with a doll. Confirming, that there is no movement any more, Iris gets tossed over the shoulder like a broken doll.

  “I have dealt with the disturbance honey!”, she smiles and waves at us.

  At this point I have to do some explaining, I think. Well the simple version: Celes is a magical idiot! Even as a god, she knew just the most basic spells. She has almost zero ability to sense mana.

  What she has though, is godlike control over her inner mana flow. Some people would even call it inner power or just Ki. She is a master in manipulating it. It is a far more advanced version of what Iris did. Iris wrapped herself in her own mana, to enhance her physical abilities. But in the process, she wasted much of it and it burst out as energy. We, as bystanders, could feel it.

  From Celes, who was doing the same, we could feel nothing. By coating herself with such a thin tight layer of mana, Celes becomes almost immune to most physical attacks and spells. That's why I had a hard time against her as a god. I had to pull off fucking nukes, to dent her defense.

  Well, to say it with other words, she is a martial artist, who uses mana to her advantage. Or a simple brutish idiot I would say.

  The only thing Iris did by hitting Celes, was breaking her own arms and leg.

  I wave back at her, while I already see some healers advancing in our direction.

  13 - A new rumor!

  I wave back at her, while I already see some healers advancing in our direction.

  That's when I realize, that the fight has gathered quite a number of spectators. Many students and instructors rushed over, when they heard the first noises of the battle.

  “That's a splendid technique little princess”, Tongord compliments Celes. Morden is still too shocked to say something, it is the first time I have seen her speechless.

  “Nothing worth mentioning! Don't you have someone here, who can put up a little resistance?”, Celes is dusty all over, but still talks big.

  “Hmmm, I will have to put you into the special class. There is no way I can let you fight normal students.”, Tongord talks to himself.

  “So no one here at the moment? Then I will take you as a training partner Angrod! No need to completely waste this lesson.”, Celes looks at me like devil!

  “I... I will pass! I will be just a punching bag for you!”, I refuse! There is no way I can stand up to that brute without spells.

  But I get grabbed and pulled into the direction of the arena. “No need to hold back! I allow you to use spells.”

  As we stand in front of each other, I start to buff myself with every spell I can think of. Agility! Strength! Stone Skin! Shield! Vitality! Inner Peace! Regeneration!

  When I am ready I nod at Celes. “Aren't you overdoing it a li
ttle?”, she asks. “Any less and I will die!”, I just want to make this clear!

  So we start our match and keep it up, until we notice the bell, which signals the end of the lesson. In the meantime, just the impacts of fists and feet on the opponents body could be heard. As we climb out of the arena, the rest of the students have concentrated at the other side of the gym.

  Tongord waves two papers at us, “This are the registration forms for my special class! Fill it out and go there in future! No need to have you two destroy one of my arenas every lesson.”, he looks down into the arena, which can only be described as a hole with debris inside by now.

  We are both battered and sore all over. Though I am in a much worse state! The witch didn't hold back at all and made a game out of hitting places that didn't hurt yet. So my whole body hurts by now.

  “Area Heal!”, a shining circle of healing light envelops us. I guess it would draw attention if I healed only myself.

  “You two are both awesome! Next time I want to train with you!”, Morden has recovered herself. I will be sure to have her swap with me next time.

  Celes nods, “Yes! Its good to have more opponents. It is a greater challenge like that!”

  So I alone wasn't enough for you! I want to cry.

  The girls run off to the changing rooms. I follow them just a little unmotivated. Will this be my new school-life? Being beaten up on a regular basis doesn't sound like fun at all!

  After this we changed and met up again to go for mathematics and arts lessons. Mathematics wasn't anything special, just the regular stuff that gets taught in every world.

  In arts we had to draw a picture, which got Celes really motivated. She seems to be a natural and got a really neat painting of a countryside done. Maybe something from her past life's?

  I myself can proudly announce that I tried to introduce modern art to the world! It had huge similarity to a Rorschach test, I was sure to change the world with this!

  But the teacher, Jeniva Guger, didn't think like that. She asked me why I sullied her lesson with my presence. It's just wrong, if you think about it! How can a teacher say something like that to a student!

  So the hours went by, until we stood before it!

  The door to the mystic arts classroom! I pressed down the handle and entered. Just three students were inside. And I know them!

  “Oh hi! Angorn and Celes, you take this lesson too??? Wow, you are brave!”, Margerie Cygnus calls out to us. Besides her is her brother Stephen Cygnus. A row behind them is Sven Hjavars, who waves at us.

  “Hi, nice to see you! And why are we brave, because of taking this lesson? And why are you here Stephen, I thought you were older than us?”, Celes asks.

  “I am here because I am already retaking this lesson for the third time! And you are brave, because you signed up for a lesson, you are guaranteed to fail. So you won't have the freedom to fail any other lesson this year.”, Stephen tells us, while looking like he has bitten into a lemon.

  “Then why do you retake this lesson for the third time!?”, I ask. “I hate to give up, I will take this lesson until I pass or die of old age!”, he replies.

  Wow. That's what I call determination! “So, could you explain what the mystic arts are about?”, I inquire further.

  “The mystic arts that mister Samarin teaches, are about all kinds of things. From the state of the world, to magic rituals and science. Teacher is very smart, and he teaches whatever you ask about without caring about any curriculum. And that's the problem! At the end of the year he will ask you some stupid stuff you never heard or talked about.”, Margerie explains.

  At that the door opens and Samarin walks inside and smiles at us. Strangely enough he is the first person I see in this world, who looks completely human. Just his skin is a little reddish.

  “Oh look what we have here. One, two, three, four, five people are willing to take the trial! That's a new record! Normally everyone, who hears about it applies for something else at the last minute!

  As for introductions, I am Samarin and your teacher. You can ask me everything you want and I will teach it to you. Now please introduce yourself with your name and a single sentence about you.” -Samarin

  “Margerie Cygnus, I want to learn everything I can to levitate something without magic!” -Margerie

  “Stephen Cygnus, I wish nothing more than to pass the test for this lesson.” -Stephen

  “Sven Hjavars, I just want to listen...”, someone whispers.

  “Angrod Tirna, I will rule the world!” -Me

  “Celes Stricc, I will save the world!” -Celes

  “Hmmm, now that I look at you..... I have heard rumours in the hallway. It was about a horned devil, which beat a student half dead and then fighting a second devil in the gym, where one of the arenas was completely destroyed.

  I hope it has nothing to do with you two?” -Samarin

  “I don't know what you are talking about.” - “I don't know what you are talking about.”

  “Angrod is my most beloved fiance! Why should I fight him, absurd!”, Celes hugs me from the side.

  “Honey, I am sure that nobody with a working brain could ever think that we would fight over anything!”, I put an arm around her.

  DDDAAAMAMMNNNN ITTT! FUUUCK NICOSAR! IT IS ALREADY A REFLEX!

  “Well, in any case, I have to start the lesson, what should we talk about?” -Samarin

  “I want to know about the goddess Seria! There is something I find strange.”, Stephen calls out.

  “Hoh, what is it you find strange?” -Samarin

  “We believe in a single god, the goddess Seria. That goes for the whole world. But there are some strange inconsistencies in our beliefs. Even though there is only one god, when we receive our prophecy at the age of one. The priest says that “the gods” will judge us, as if there would be many of them.” -Stephen

  “Unfortunately, that's something even I can't answer for sure. What I do know is this. The goddess Seria appeared to us on several well documented occasions over the centuries.

  Every time she decided to reveal herself, her revelations had a great effect on the whole world. However, there are times when mortals like us could talk to her for a while. In most cases those people were seen as her avatars.

  From her words, we can conclude that she is not the only god in existence. And that this world is just one of many. Some wise people are of the opinion, that other worlds may have other gods too. Though if they exist they haven't showed themselves to us. The reason for that, we may never know.

  On the other hand you are a very lucky person Stephen. Because two of the very few people, who had ever contact with the goddess are sitting right beside you, if the rumours are true....”

  -Samarin looks at Celes and me.

  14 - Interlude – A broken world?

  I am standing on the smouldering remnants of a broken world. There are some survivors, but it will take a long time for this world to heal, if ever.....

  As I take my steps through the molten rock, I leave glowing footprints behind. Maybe someone will wonder about them in a million years? Should I come back by then to check? I snicker to myself.

  Simply willing myself to another place above this dead rock I reappear high in the air and take a deep breath. The sulphuric air and temperatures where the fight raged the strongest, would have killed any other living being, but not me.

  Yeah, not me. How boring. I don't even remember a time when it wasn't like this? But I am sure there must have been a time like that.

  A time, during which I was alive...... a time of joy, a time of wonder, a time in which a little bit of love was enough reason to live on.

  But I don't remember such a wondrous time, is that why beings like me start to play with the lives of those who can't oppose us? Is it just because we become too bored of everything.

  So we start to roll the dice of life, just to see what happens? It is a pretty pathetic reason I think.

  That mountain is blocking the view.....
*flick*

  *RRRUUMMMMMMMBBBLLEEEE*

  Yes, in a few thousand years, this could be a nice valley. Maybe I will pay a visit if I am still around.

  “What are you doing here Seria? Playing around!”

  I turn around, “Tjenemit! How nice of you to pay me a visit! How is it at the Council?” I smile a splendid smile at Tjenemit.

  “The Council is doing fine! I came to check on your job! Have you dealt with them like ordered?”, Tjenemit asks.