Wartime Reverie

"Wow," Allen smirked as he deftly deflected each of the sword strikes, "I knew I was intimidating but I didn't think I'd scare you so bad you'd have to have your weapons fight for you. Or maybe you're just a coward. After all how spineless do you have to be to attack from behind, to attack a girl from behind, even." a slight note of contempt entered Allen's voice at the idea of attacking a girl. "Oh well, not like I haven't dealt with cowards before." After he said this Allen leapt into the air and did a spinning kick to disarm his non-existent attacker. the dark blade went flying through the air and as Allen landed he shot a ray of light from his hand to dispel the dark magic Rako was charging.

 

The dark magic in Rako's hand absorbed the light and gained more power from it. Rako's dark sword which had been sent flying in the air came back at Allen and stabbed him while he was at the peak of his jump. Rako then fired dark magic which was in the form of a ring that encompassed the Allen and the area in the sky around him.

 

Mixt twirled his two blunted swords as he contemplated the situation. Two new people were in the fray, the boy from earlier was now angry, and the girl was healed back to full strength. Doubtless this called for a change in plan. Afterall Mixt suffered a burn just keeping track of two, four was too chaotic. He would need to take down a weaker one first, one of the newcomers. The boy with the items, that would be his new target. A reliance on items is unstable and the course of battle will change as soon as he run out. Besides, that calm manner reminded Mixt too much of himself and it bothered him.

With his mind made up Mixt moved within range of Allen, "So what was your plan here? A quick gesture of kindness and then we all have a group hug before going our separate ways? Victory goes to those that go the extra step. Perhaps I am too serious, but that is exactly why I will beat you" Mixt said before slashing forward at his opponent.

 

Allen easily deflected Mixt's atack and his smirk just got more cocky. "Is that all you've got?," he said at Rako. He snapped his fingers and the light absorbed by Rako's attack came bursting out, completely destroying the dark ring and rendering the attack useless. He then grabbed his healing elixir and took a swig, negating the stab wound. "My plan was to make sure no one got hurt taking a stupid test." He then turned back to Rako "I've had tougher fights with kids." "Man, this guy is tough," he thought, "better end this quick, or no one's getting out of here." He panicked for a moment as he realized that he would never see Jen again if he died in this fight. The thought Emboldened him as he was filled with a burning determination to see her again. "But I guess it's my turn now." His smirk was gone, he didn't care anymore about intimidating his opponent with his bravado, suddenly he only cared about staying alive to see Jen. He rushed towards the middlemost crystal and jumped forward, focusing his light powers as quickly as he could. As he came in contact with the crystal he unleashed light around him and into it, causing the light to refract from one crystal to another and fill the area with beams of light. The whole area was as bright as day and the intersecting beams of light from the crystals caught Rako like a spider's web. Allen resisted the urge to attempt murdering his foe while he had this advantage. He panted, just as much from desperate rage as from the fatigue of using such powerful magic, "That's it...it's over... this place just became a beacon to everyone for miles...in a few minutes every one taking this test'll be here to see what's going on... do you honestly think you can take on all of us..? Just give up and leave while you can."

 

Rako was shocked and, admittedly, over joyed. Rako looked at his opponent and smiled. "You know when you first started fighting I thought you were just a cocky child, but with that last move you showed me that you are actually smart and cunning. Traits I find admirable in others. I do wish to fight you another time, hence why I will not kill you. But what I do next you may not be allowed to witness." Rako then teleported behind Allen and knocked him out with the bud of his blade.

Rako then did the same for Mixt, teleporting behind him and knocking him out.

Then the same for Phisoxa.

And the same for Drei.

All of them were excellent fighters, it would be a shame and an outrage if the world was deprived of such talent. Rako decided to absorb their likeness's into his being. To see what they had, and to see how they could be used to his advantage. First he absorbed Allen into him, then Drei, then Phisoxa, and finally Mixt. Within Allen, Drei, and Phisoxa, Rako found hope and light. He saw goodness triumph over evil. He saw kindness and compasion lead their thoughts. However, in Mixt, Rako saw something entirely different. Something that filled him with joy.

Rako picked up the unnamed student he had beaten before and sat him up. Right then and there, Rako took Mixt's blade and stabbed it through the heart of the student, killing him. Rako then placed Mixt's sword next to him.

In Rako's mind, all the memories of Allen, Drei, Phisoxa, and Mixt swirled and danced around him. Rako stared at them, then plucked the most recent events that had transpired. The appearence of Rako to the students, the grand battle they all had. As Rako took them away, the memories of these things vanished as if they had never happened. Rako then created a new memory in his mind that all the participants of todays battle would remember. A new memory of Mixt mercilessly slaying the student with his own blade. All would remember this event and it would never leave their heads. The horror of true battle. Rako even left something special for Mixt, a feeling of joy and comfort while killing the student would also be engraved upon his particular memory.

Rako, then having completed creating the false memories, gave them back to all four students. All Allen, Drei, and Phisoxa would remember about today is how Mixt killed a fellow student. And all Mixt would remember was him enjoying his kill.

With his mission complete, Rako teleported away from the scene.

Then, most of the students who had seen the light from Allen's attack, rushed in to find a horrible sight. A student slain and Mixt's sword dripping with blood...

 

It had been a day since the exam had come to a close and Phisoxa had already left the infirmary after getting a wound stitched and bandaged up on her right shoulder. Her head was still spinning from a mix of high powered drugs the nurses had given her and the horrible memories that were still clear in her mind as if they had happened only moments ago. Phisoxa looked like she was going to be sick when the death of the student played over and over in mind, she couldn't get her mind off it one bit. She stopped in the hall and leaned against a wall as a girl with short dark blue hair came up and put their hand on her shoulder. " Phisoxa you look sick, maybe you should head back to see the nurse..." The girl said as Phisoxa shook her head." No I'm fine, I'm just feeling woozy from the drugs is all Shero..."

 

A tall man wearing a white robe came around the corner of the hallway. He stood up right and held his arms behind his back. A hood was attached to the robe and the hood was over his face. Now, while the outside of the robe was white, the inside was black, so that this way no one would be able to see his face. He whistled at Phisoxa, in order to get her attention. "Hey! Ssspptt!! You! I need to talk to you in private for a second, come over here!"

 

Phisoxa rose a brow at the man's strange clothing choice and she wondered if the drugs had caused her to start seeing ghosts but she decided to throw out that possibility and speak to him. She told Shero to wait as she walked over to the man and stood in front of him. " Yes sir is there something you need?"

 

"Well uh, yes, it's actually what you need! You see... well, hold on a sec, what's the date? Do you know what today's date is?" The man seemed very disorganized in his thoughts. The man then pulled up the sleeve on his right arm and looked at a watch attached to his arm. "You know, these things tell the time, but never the date, it's very annoying."

 

Mixt sat in desk sketching in a notebook that he had been allowed. Though it hardly felt right to still refer to it as a classroom. This wing was rarely used and the room hadn't even been cleaned in months. They just put him back here for lack of a proper holding cell. He could likely break out, the pencil would make alchemy too easy, but there wasn't anywhere he preferred to be. So he waited for events to take their course while he tried to find the meaning behind the amulet of his childhood.

 

Phisoxa rose her brow at the man, being slightly weirded out by the man now. " Its the 7th of Aiadeus, 780. .. sir, may I ask.. are you trying to sell me something?" Phisoxa said in a cautious manner, stepping back a little.

Juno entered the room wearing a pair of black reading glasses and carrying a stack of papers. She then stopped near the table Mixt was sitting down at and set the papers down. "Its good to see you awake... I've come to tell you that the Janina Police Department will be moving you to your holding cell in two days time."

 

"Aw crap! Are you serious? I'm like a week ahead of schedule!!! And no, I am not trying to sell you anything... listen, I... Just, okay, you never saw me! Remember that! I was never here! I will see you in a week and until then... well... uh, just keep your light magic handy! See, I shouldn't have said that! I am already giving away more than I should!" The man continued to mutter to himself as he quickly walked away from her.

 

"No, you're here for more than that. Telling me something so simple doesn't merit you coming into the room, much less the stack of papers" Mixt said as he finished off one of his drawings before folding it up and leaning back in his chair. "So what is this really? Time for the interrogation?"

 

A man in a black coat entered the Academy, his face hidden by its hood. People starred at him as he walked in but he ignored them as he walked past them, he had a single goal in mind. He walked past a man in a white robe and smirked, he knew the man and any other day he would fight him, but not today. He came up to an almost empty class room and broke the door as he entered "Step away from the young man Juno" he said as he entered.

 

Allen sat in his favorite restaurant. He had food in front of him ad he had eaten some of it, but he was too distracted to think much about the food.
He had called Jen earlier.It should have been nice to talk to her, Allen's favorite thing to do was to talk to Jen, but again he was too distracted.
He was thinking about what he had seen the night of the exam.

He had told Jen all about it; how he had been admiring the stars when he heard the sound of something -of several somethings- breaking, how he had hurried to make sure no one was injured (Jen had admired that his first action upon arriving at the scene was to help the wounded girl), how he had fought briefly with Mixt (which he had learned was the name of the boy who had murdered the other student), and how he had woken up, how he remembered Mixt impaling the other student (more vividly than he remembered most of the events that transpired that night, even), and how the next thing he remembered was waking from unconsciousness with a splitting headache and surrounded by what he assumed at first was daylight. It wasn't actually daylight though, he had learned from the crowd that was there when he came to that it was actually light magic. and how Mixt had woken from unconsciousness with himself and the other two that had been there.

Allen just didn't understand it. Where had the light magic come from? Why was Mixt unconcious with them when they came to? Most importantly: why had Mixt killed that boy? When he told Jen about his questions she pointed out that he had obviously been hit on the head and that, that cold be interfering with his memory of what happened, and that sometimes people do bad things without a reason. He supposed she was right, and accepted that his memory could be foggy from a hit to the head, but he just didn't understand why Mixt had killed the poor boy.

He payed for his food and decided to take a walk around his favorite part of town.

 

Phisoxa looked to be even more dumbfounded by the strange mannerism of the man. " What.... light energy? I don't even know him..." Phisoxa thought aloud as she sighed and turned to Shero who came running over. " What did that stranger want Phisoxa?" Shero asked as Phisoxa shrugged. " I don't know but he was quite odd... I'm beginning to think I have stalkers... Maybe I should ask to change keys and locks on my dorm room..."

Juno seemed to be slightly shocked at the man's commands. " Excuse me sir, who are you and what business do you have here to be ordering me around....?"

 

As Allen walked around a strange man who was wearing a white coat and hood came up and started walking right next to him. It was the same man who had talked to Phisoxa breifly before. "Hey there uh..." The man pulled out a binder from seemingly no where and started going through it while mumbling "Hmm, let me see, who are you? Who am I talking to?" The man finally got to the page he was looking for "Ah, here you are! Allen Tor! That's an interesting last name..." The man then put the binder behind him and it dissappeared. "Anyway, hey there Allen, how are you today?"

 

Allen was slightly perturbed by the man's attire, as well as the fact that this man clearly knew who he was and had likely been looking for him. He did his best to hide his emotions though."Confused mostly." he replied, "lots of questions going around in my head right now y'know. For example; who are you? How do you know who I am? And what do you want?" he stopped walking and turned to face the man.

 

The man got excited "Ah, who indeed! That question will have to wait, for you see, the nature of my visit to you can not allow me to tell you who I am." said the man. "Now you might as well think of this as an interview, for you see, I am gathering a team. A team of people who I know will do remarkable things, and above all continue to keep balance in the universe! You, Allen, are a person of such." The man then put his arm around Allen in a friendly fashion. "Now, Allen, as I've read, you are a kind and very sensitive man. Admirable traits, however, what sticks out the most is your bravery in battle, your willingness to do what is neccesary to win, even if it's short term. I watched your fight with r- oh! Caught myself, almost gave away plot points!" The man then stopped himself before shouting out "Spoilers!" and then laughing. "Anyway, I watched your fight with Mixt and I was simply amazed, and I think you would be a perfect fit for my new team! Waddya say? Want to join?" The man extended his hand to Allen as a sign of whether he would join or decline. The choice was up to Allen to make.

 

Allen couldn't tell whether to laugh at the man's odd mannerisms or to scream in terror. "Maybe, I want to know more first." he decided to drop the tough-guy act, there was no point in keeping it up if this man could see right through it anyway. He sat down on a nearby bench. "Firstly I want to know how you know so much about me. Where could you possibly have read that I'm kind and sensitive? The thought that you could learn things about me that I try to keep hidden is pretty disturbing. Then there's the fact that you won't even tell me your name and you're hiding your face in that hood, which makes me wonder if I should trust you. After we address those issues I'd like to know more about this team; What do you mean keep balance in the universe? What's this team actually for? Why should I join this team? What's it supposed to do? What would my roll on the team be?"