Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
The flame is the passion of justified wrath. Ignite the spark with caution, death awaits a wavering heart. Wield the fire with hate, chaos cannot be controlled. Let lifeblood flow freely, it is your destiny.
Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
The voice trails off and I can't remember what is said to me. This is the third time it appeared and I'm unable decide if it's a hallucination when I'm close to death or my fractured subconscious rambling as the rage consumes me.
I don't know how I killed these men in front of me, it's a rough estimate but at least thirteen lay dead in a mess of scattered limbs and spilled intestines. I don't know why they attacked me either, my wound aches with a slow throb as my heart thumps slower. It's a terrible gash that still leaks freely.
I've lost too much blood and stumble when I try walking forward. A sickening crack makes me take a sharp inhale as my knees strike the cobbled road.
My heartbeat slows its rhythm even more.
Pushing myself back up, I take four more steps before I fall again.
Ba-dump...…Ba-dump
Vision is fading as I realize the man who stabbed me must've jerked the blade to open me up wide, there is too much blood for a simple stab.
Ba-dump......Ba-dump
'Am I really going to die here? After all I struggled for? Is this the sick joke of a god's boredom.'
My skin feels cold, and I can't move, dying on the street seems to be my signature move.
Ba-dump.........Ba-dump
The anger inside rushes forth.
Ba-dump
'Why? I did what was asked and more. I bought my fucking freedom. Me, I did it, no one else. How can it end like this when those bastards aren't dead!'
Ba-dump.......Ba-dump
'I cannot die! I will not allow it! I have people I need to kill!'
Ba-dump...…...Ba-dump.....Ba-dump....Ba-dump
My pulse pounds in my ears as I stand. I'm close to familiar shop and I don't remember how I ended up looking at its ceiling. Healer Gillis stands over me with a needle and catgut, her look of determined concentration lets me finally surrender to sleep.
When I wake, it's daylight out and my head throbs viciously. Gillis is nearby and places a cup of water to my parched lips.
"Drink. Slowly boy! It's not going anywhere." Pure relief washes down my throat as she continues. "You're severely dehydrated after losing all that blood, I won't ask what happened, but don't rip my front door off next time you barge in here. It was a pain to put back."
Last night events hit me like a cold plunge, burning agony and a chill make it hard to stay sitting upright.
"Lie down you foolish boy, you were half gutted last night!"
I do not want to lie down, Marinah's waiting for me. I promised her I would—
The old woman's smack to my wound makes me cry out.
"No getting any ideas about leaving. You need to rest."
I'm completely at her mercy as consciousness fades in and out. It's night again before my wit's finally return. Thankfully, the healer's sleeping and doesn't hear me carelessly drop a handful of gold on her counter. I remove the door chime with gritted teeth as I reach up.
I don't know what time it is, but the academy starts soon, and I need to get there before it does. Each step is grueling, and the pace is slow, a couple hours have passed am I'm not even close.
When the sun peaks over the walls of Watercrest, I see students being guided inside the academy. The last person from the group enters and I have to shout a choked cry, so they don't close the gate on me.
Academy staff look at me questioningly as I limp through the gate and after the other students. Sweat keeps stinging my eyes and makes me lose track of where I'm going. It's only a miracle that when I turn left, I see familiar faces being called to stand behind their homeroom teachers.
I guess my disheveled state was fairly ghastly as shocked cries came from the students around me.
Instructor Zyre's voice cuts through the noise.
"Kelric, you look like shit."
It's a little embarrassing how many times I've passed out recently, but I can't stop myself as my head bounces off the marble floor.
This time when I wake, it's still daylight outside. I'm in the healer bay and Edeline is wiping my body with a wet rag. I'm completely nude except for a washcloth draped over my crotch. Looking to my left because of a weird draft, I see a group of women taking notes.
"You see how the stitching folds over here and here." A very old woman jabs her fingers at my newly healing wound. "I would've done it here and here instead. That way, you could avoid giving your patient a bigger scar. Unless you're pressed for time, try not to be this sloppy."
I then notice the women taking notes are very young, around my age. Must be in training or something.
One raises a hand and asks, "If he was run through like you said, how was his internal bleeding stopped?"
The very old woman looks surprised and grunts approvingly.
"Good catch Faith, I was wondering when someone would ask." I unconsciously flinch back when an orb of glowing green appears in her palm. "Life affinity. Judging by big the wound is, I'd say the healer who patched him up is fairly skilled at using life affinity. As you know, it accelerates the growth of healing tissue. The healer more than likely exhausted all their affinity on his innards and could only haphazardly stitch up him up. Hence why I said the healer was pressed for time, they must've been close to collapsing after using so much essence."
The old woman then turned and pressed the green ball on my wound. I braced for the pain that would surely follow, but none came. Instead, my stomach started getting itchy as scabs formed before my eyes.
She turned back to her group after a moment.
"Thank Kelric here for giving me an opportunity to get a head start on your education."
A chorus of thanks echoed out and the group left after the old woman pointed out a couple of my scars that caught her interest.
My attention went back to Edeline when she tried to lift the washcloth to clean my groin. I had to argue with her a bit until she let me do it myself. I'm not shy about being naked, but touching is a little…
I don't know what that old woman did, but I feel completely rejuvenated. Edeline made me do a few tests of mobility before she finally let me leave. Her expression was somewhat creepy the entire time and she kept touching the bigger scars I have on 'accident'.
She helped me find my homeroom and I'm immediately bombarded with questions after I open the door. Elias rushes up to me, followed by the twins in a panic.
"What the hell Kelric!? What happened to you?"
Everyone seemed to be interested in my story, even instructor Zyre wanted an answer as he nodded along to his question.
"Um I don't really know honestly. I was leaving Marinah's house when somebody stabbed me in the back."
Dean sucked in a breath, "Woah.. did you get him after? What a cowardly thing to do, I bet he's sitting in a cell right now cursing his stupidity for messing with you."
I shake my head at this and explain.
"Him and his companions aren't in any cell; I killed them all."
Jean was shocked at this revelation, "How many were there!? They got the first hit and still didn't win.. what a bunch of lowlifes."
"Thirteen, I think? It was hard to tell after, too many bodies."
He stepped back a little as his lips trembled, "L-Lorna S-Street.. m-massacre.. that was you?"
I can only shrug my shoulders at his question; I don't know what street it happened on.
Instructor Zyre clapped his hands then to get our attention.
"Alright, that's enough. Everyone sit down, now that Kelric has joined us, it's time to start orientation."
Elias wouldn't take no for an answer and took my arm while guiding me to a seat. Dean and Jean were like puppies in my heels and pulled chairs out next me at one of the tables. Looking around the room, I see there is about twenty in our class.
Zyre starts speaking when we all get settled, there's a transformation to him that I didn't notice before. His appearance is still disheveled, but he now has an air of authority to replace the usual bored uninterest
"First, let's go over some rules. My rules, not the academy's. No fighting amongst your classmates, this goes for the people in this room and students in other classes. I do not want to see a single one of you in the dueling ground without my expressed permission." It's obvious who this was directed at as he stared at me.
"No bribery. If I catch anyone paying another for doing homework or any assignment I give, I will expel both parties. Do not interrupt me, if you do then you will be punished with physical exhaustion. Lastly, keep your interactions with other classes to a minimum. You will be punished if I find out your sneaking off to go enjoy some alone time with your sweetheart." He directed his look back at me again.
A sudden flash of white makes me strike the table, I cringe a little when it cracks down the middle and collapses.
"Kelric, I told you not to interrupt me. Go take five laps around the obstacle course after class."
"But I didn't, you were done speaking!?"
"Make it ten then, you can question me when I say you can. You're here to listen to me, not you or your classmates speak."
Elias puts a hand on my arm as I get ready to stand. He gently shakes his head, and my rage dissipates a little.
"Elias, you can join Kelric for five laps for distracting him."
"Huh!? You—" he clamped a hand to his mouth, but it was too late.
"Okay, seems like you wanted to join him for the full ten then. Anyone else feel like sweating today?"
When no answers he frowns, "I just asked a question.. why did nobody respond? Everyone can join Kelric and Elias for five laps.
Many groan as they realize this is what Zyre planned to do from the start.
"Who said you could be dissatisfied? Everyone's doing ten now. Classes start in earnest tomorrow at dawn. Everyone who can't read or write will need to stay and hour after class each day to learn. Let me say this before you go, I will know if you skimp out on your punishment. Thats it for orientation I guess... so let me welcome you to class 1-10, the worst class at Elomburg."
Suddenly, one of my chair legs snapped as if to agree with Zyre.
"Kelric, you're up to fifteen now."
We all head to the obstacle course and my classmates only start groaning in dissatisfaction after making sure Zyre wasn't nearby. My wound feels surprisingly good and only has a slight tugging sensation to it when I move.
I keep pace with Elias for the first lap to ask about Marinah to see if she's mad at me.
"Oh… yeah.. she was pissed *huff* when you didn't meet her yesterday… *huff* she showed up at our house and.. badgered me with questions… about you.."
I'm a confused about his wording, "Our house?"
He gives me an incredulous look at my question.
"Yeah.. our house. You stay there.. don't you?"
For some reason, the thought of having a place I could call home again makes me smile.
Elias continued after giving me a weird look.
"Anyway.. she was still *huff* super mad this.. morning. But when you… showed up.. looking like death.. I thought she was going to have… a heart attack.."
"So do you think she's still angry?"
Elias shook his head no and focused on his breathing as we climbed the rope, smacking the wooden beam at the top, we descend back to the ground.
I leave him behind as I loop the obstacle course over and over. My thoughts are filled with ways to apologize to Marinah.
I'm on my fourteenth lap when I see a couple students kneeling and gasping for air.
"This is stupid! Why punish us for no reason, this is why instructor Zyre known as a joke outside of the academy!"
"Yeah! Why'd he have to pick me to be in his shitty class! I'm done; I'm not doing the rest of these laps."
Their conversation makes me a little angry. If anyone should be mad, it's me. I don't need to do this course, I'm barely exhausted after the laps I've already done. This is just a waste of time for me. But these weaklings can't even do six without falling to their knees.
I tell them as much when I walk over to them. One with curly black hair seems to take offense at my words.
"But this is stupid punishment! What does it matter if we get tired faster than you!?"
"That's because this isn't a punishment you fool. Zyre is trying to get everyone to a certain level of fitness. The less time you complain now, the faster we'll get to stop doing this. Unless you want to drop out, suck it up and move."
After saying this, I leave them and complete the lap. I probably shouldn't have intervened, but Zyre has some sort of plan, and I want to get stronger now. After last night, the confidence I have in myself has been ruthlessly lowered. I just don't want them to hold me back if I can help it.
My words seemed to have an effect though when I do my last lap. The two nod at me begrudgingly as I pass them.
Elias finished before me, but he's still panting heavily while I just had a good sweat.
"Come on, let me take you to the dorm. We luckily got paired in a room together this morning."
Elias gave me a fairly comprehensive tour of the academy before we arrived in our room. Two beds on opposite walls, a bathroom and a table were the only furnishings inside. Each bed had five sets of uniforms. Black and gold were the colors of our class and 1-10 was stitched proudly onto the shoulders.
There was a bit of time until dinner, we had missed the midday meal because of the 'punishment'. Elias told me of his travel to back home and spending time with his family.
He was very excited to tell me about it, and I could tell that he was very proud of his father. He sounds like a busy man, a great one, but busy. Elias hadn't been able to meet with him often because of the recent tensions with Solicia. As Duke of Blackgulch, he had a duty to prepare his soldiers in case a war really did break out.
Elias paused for a moment after opening the door, "Oh yeah, he also wants to meet with you for saving my life. If you're not too busy during the mid-year holiday, he'll be coming down to Watercrest."
I ponder his proposal for a moment before accepting. We'll get two weeks off after the Day of the Pheonix, so I should have plenty of time to spend with Marinah and my new family.
The food is decent at best, with so many students to feed, I can't really complain about the quality. It's much better than the slop in the arena. Anything was better than that. I see Marinah out of the corner of my eye and can't stop myself from going over to her. The words I prepared earlier slip my mind and I just look at her dumbly while trying to find something to say.
She fixes my dilemma with a tight hug and a kiss to the cheek. I have to explain what happened yesterday and my heart hurts a little because the story obviously makes her sad.
"I'm glad you're okay Kelric, I knew something must've happened since you didn't show up yesterday. I prayed for your safe return."
Her words seem forced as I recall what Elias said earlier.
"Really? I thought you were mad at me because Elias—"
She cuts me off with a cough and moves past the topic.
"Well anyway, I'm happy you're fine now."
I spend some time with her before Elias drags me away, he seemed very worried about Zyre's promise of punishment for interacting with other classes. It was a relatively good day for how it started this morning; I'm suddenly drained though when we get back to our room. My eyes close immediately after laying down on the bed.
Behind layers of mystery, a voice chants its elusive words as I drift off into sleep.