Merry-Go-Round First Draft: Chapter Four, End of Pseudo-Part One

Chapter Four: Reality Severance

“It’s windy.” Spirius said, as he awoke in his new room. The windows were rattling from the wind, and it was indeed very windy. A storm was arriving in this small city of Kerieal.

He quickly got ready for the school day ahead, and walked to the front door of his new house. As he passed by Lumina’s mother, she said, “Oh, Spirius, you’re up! Lumina left earlier… It’s pretty cold out there… are you sure you won’t be cold?” She asked with the compassion of a true mother, something that Spirius could never truly feel.

He smiled, “I’m fine, thank you. I guess I should get going now…” He waved, and stepped out of the house, and began walking. His hair, even more disorganized than normal, due to the wind, blew across his face as he continued his ever-repeating path to school.

Like always the same cherry blossom tree appeared in his sights, with flower petals flowing to the ground in a bright pink rush. And, like always, Spirius would take a few minutes to admire the beauty of the lone standing pink-flowered tree within miles of the city. He sat beneath it, staring up at the waving branches covered in pink petals.

Two soft hands covered his eyes as a girl’s voice said, “Guess who!”

Without much hesitation, Spirius answered, “Alexis.”

The girl, who kept her hands over Spirius’ eyes, asked, “Why do you think that?”

“Lumina is ahead of me. You’re the only one else I know who would try that.” He smiled.

Alexis replied, “Stop being so… so… calculating.”

“Calculating? Huh?” Spirius asked with a confused voice.

Alexis sighed, as she sat down next to Spirius, “Never mind. So…” She asked with a hesitating voice, “How was it?”

“Would you stop confusing me? What are you talking about?” Spirius, still confused, asked.

“At… Lumina’s house?”

“What?! What the heck do you mean by that! I… I didn’t…” Spirius stammered.

Alexis laughed, and leaned her head against Spirius’ shoulder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Her pink hair, tied in two ponytails, fell across Spirius’ body, and rested upon his chest.

Spirius sighed, and watched a number of students walk by on the dirt path in front of them. Deshael also walked by, with Snow keeping stride with him. Deshael looked to Spirius, and joined him and Alexis under the tree.

“Hi, Deshael.” Spirius and Alexis said, at the same time.

He replied with a wave of his hand. Snow, still standing next to Deshael, looked at Spirius, and took a step behind Deshael. Spirius noticed this and said, “I’m sorry about that incident…”

Although Snow did not say anything, the visible fear in her face faded, and stepped out from behind Deshael. Alexis then asked, smiling, “And you are?”

“Snow.” The short-white haired girl replied, extremely quietly.

“Ah, it’s nice to meet you, Snow.” Snow nodded, as Alexis continued, “And… what happened between you and Spirius.”

Snow remained quiet, and Deshael answered, “Some of Spirius’ temper got him into a fight, and Snow got hit in the crossfire.”

Alexis glared at Spirius, and said, “Ohh… Are you okay?”

Snow replied, “I’m fine.”

“I’m really sorry about that… I’m glad you’re not really hurt.” Spirius commented.

Snow nodded and said, “It’s okay.”

~~~~~

As they continued their walk, Snow held onto Deshael’s arm like a child. Spirius noticed that, because Snow not only was quite a bit shorter than Deshael, but had the same white hair and blue eyes, they could have been mistaken for brother and sister. As they walked, Alexis continued to try and break Snow’s quiet outer shell as she held on to Deshael’s arm. Spirius asked Deshael, “Why doesn’t she talk at all?”

Deshael said, sighing, “She actually only talks with me. Look.”

He turned to Snow, who was still being interrogated by Alexis, and asked, “You want Alexis to stop?”

She nodded and quietly replied, “Yes… please.”

Deshael turned to Alexis, who also nodded, and walked to the opposite side of Spirius. They reached the school without much further conversation.

~~~~~

Like always, Lumina was talking with Oakley in the middle of the morning meeting area. Spirius laid down on a bench, and quickly fell asleep. He only awoke when Alexis and Lumina woke him up for the first class. He dragged himself along with his sleepiness to the first class, and slept through most of it.

The second class was just as uneventful, but as Spirius slept, he saw his sister again. Her long black hair flowed in the wind, and he truly wished to see his sister in real life. When he awoke, the second class was coming to a close. The myth of a warrior lady protecting her brother was the last object of discussion.

Like always, the third class allowed Spirius to wake up from his state of exhaustion. He walked toward the field, as the clouds blown in by the wind appeared.

“It’s going to rain soon.” Lumina said, standing next to Spirius, Oakley, Deshael, Snow, and Alexis.

“I saw. It’s getting darker by the moment.” Oakley continued on her comment.

“Argh, I hate the rain! It’s so… so… dull and grey!” Alexis exclaimed, yelling at the sky.

“Rain…” Spirius said, calmly.

“What, something bad happen to you in the rain also?” Deshael laughed. “It just seems that everything seems to happen to you under certain circumstances, like on your birthday. Same thing with the rain?”

Spirius laughed, and said, “No… I just can’t swim.”

Deshael and Alexis broke out into laughter, and the instructor yelled, “You two! Deshael! Alexis! Be quiet!” He continued on to the special event today. “Today, there will be some sort of tournament. You will all fight each other, until one wins, and the winner will continue on to the next round. A normal tournament.”

Spirius nodded, and as the instructors prepared for the tournament, he sat on the grass of the field. “It’s getting cold.” Lumina, Oakley, Deshael, and Alexis all wore a jacket. Deshael asked Snow, “You aren’t cold? It’s freezing!”

She shook her head, and said, “No, I’m not cold.”

Deshael then laughed, and said, “Your name is Snow, after all.”

~~~~~

“128 students, 7 rounds. The winner advances to the next round. Simple. Everyone get it?” The instructor said.

An echoed “Yes,” was heard.

A paper was held up, and the first round started. Spirius, Deshael, and Lumina easily won, while Oakley and Alexis made careless mistakes, and were eliminated. The tournament moved slowly, and in the fifth round, Deshael was set to fight Snow, a surprisingly adept fighter. She defeated Deshael easily, who visibly held back against Snow. Lumina continued on to the sixth round, and lost to the green-haired boy from yesterday, Araschaun. Spirius won his duel, and the final fight, a rematch.

~~~~~

“What a coincidence. I didn’t think you could fight at all, but you made it all the way here.” Araschaun retorted.

Spirius shrugged shoulders, anticipating the call to start.

“Stop ignoring me! You… little—“

The call was sounded, and without letting Araschaun continue his sentence, Spirius ran at him. The long-winded battle began with Spirius’ slash at Araschaun’s head. He dropped to the ground and quickly swept at Spirius’ feet. Spirius swung downward at his opponent, who easily blocked it. Spirius fell backwards, and almost was eliminated by Araschaun’s quick slash.

The clouds, which had grown steadily darker, finally had begun to release the water of the sky. The rain fell upon the two combatants, and the battle was ended as a tie. Spirius began walking toward the exit of the school, followed by his group of friends, who began to question him.

~~~~~

Spirius arrived at Lumina’s house drenched with rain, along with Lumina. Once again, Lumina’s mother’s concern for both her daughter and Spirius surprised him. He found himself covered in towels, and feet in warm water. Lumina was the same way, sitting next to Spirius.

As soon as they warmed up from the cold winter rain, they ate the dinner that the family had cooked. Spirius commented, smiling, “Now I know how Lumina cooks such good cakes! This is delicious!”

Lumina blushed, and said, “It wasn’t that good.”

Lumina’s mother laughed, and said, “Take the compliment. He really means it.”

~~~~~

Before long, dinner was finished, and it was time to sleep. Spirius had changed into some of Lumina’s brother’s old clothes, which, surprisingly, fit him very well. He sat down on his new bed, as Lumina walked into the room. “Do they fit?” She asked.

“They fit fine. Almost perfectly. Thanks.” Spirius replied.

“Good… It’d be hard to find any more boy’s clothes in the house. Only my mother, my two sisters, and I live in this house.” She said.

“What about your father?” Spirius asked.

“He died, when I was 4.” Lumina answered, looking at the wood floor.

“Oh… I’m sorry, forget I asked, then.”

Lumina smiled, “Don’t worry… I’ve been over it for a while. Besides, it’d nothing compared to what you’ve had to go through.”

Spirius said, “No, I haven’t gone through much.”

Lumina looked at Spirius skeptically, and he continued, “Fine. I have gone through quite a bit. But, I’ve never really cared… that much.”

She once again glared at Spirius, who then said, “Fine, fine! I did care!”

Lumina smiled, and said, “Good. You cared about somebody, at least.”

“Hey! I care about some people!” Spirius complained.

“I know. Everybody does, but for you, it sometimes doesn’t seem that way.”

Lumina ended the conversation with that, and walked out of Spirius’ room. Spirius thought about what Lumina said, but quickly fell asleep.

~~~~~

“Wake up! Now!!!” A gruff voice sounded in Spirius’ mind.

“Wha?”

“Wake up!!!” The same voice repeated, and enforced what he was saying by grabbing Spirius’ hair, and pulling him off the bed. “Let’s go!”

Spirius opened his eyes, and looked out the window. The rain had stopped, but it was still dark. He turned to view the room, and it was wholly messed up, and Spirius immediately became worried. “What are you doing?”

“Let’s go! Now!” The man pulled Spirius by the hair, and began forcing him out of the door.

When Spirius walked out his bedroom door, he noticed that the whole house was messy. He immediately yelled, “What did you do! What—Where is Lumina?!”

Another man’s voice sounded from inside Lumina’s room, “This girl?”

He walked out, holding and unconscious Lumina by the neck.

A countenance of shock immediately appeared on Spirius’ face, as he looked around for his sword. The man holding him said, “Don’t try to resist. Let’s go.”

When Spirius’ gaze landed on the insurgent’s sword, he instinctively kicked his captor in the chest. As he flew backwards, he pulled out the sword from its scabbard.

“Put down Lumina.” Spirius said.

“You’re in no position to make any demands. What makes you think you can fight us? We aren’t listening to you!” The one who held Lumina said, as more men appeared around the corners of the hallway.

“What do you want?” Spirius asked.

“You.”

“If I came voluntarily, will you promise not to hurt Lumina?” Spirius asked.

“I won’t hurt her, but I can’t assure anything about my colleagues.”

Spirius swung his sword, but immediately stopped when he saw a dagger at Lumina’s neck. “No!” He cried out, unsure of what to do.

“What are you going to do?”

Spirius thought, and then dropped his sword. As his attackers began saying, “Good, now…” Spirius ran up and kicked the dagger at Lumina’s neck out of the abductionist’s hands. He quickly grabbed the flying dagger, and rammed it into his attacker’s chest. He caught Lumina and held her as he ran his way toward the back door.

However, as he burst out the back door, more fighters awaited him. Lumina awoke, and gasped. Spirius let her down to the ground, and said, “Don’t do anything. They want me, so don’t make them mad.”

“What?” Lumina exclaimed.

“Just don’t do anything. Don’t get yourself involved.”

“What about you?” Lumina asked.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not!!! I don’t want you to get hurt any more.” She clasped the dagger in Spirius’ hand, and wrenched it out. Spirius began to protest, but reconsidered, and said, “Fine. But, I’m really sorry if anything happens to you.” He gripped the other sword in his hands, and prepared to fight.

As three attackers ran at them, Spirius also rushed quickly, and swung his sword at one’s chest. The other two quickly circled Spirius, but Lumina dispatched them both with two quick stabs to their necks. Spirius finished off the other, but another group was coming.

Another voice said, “All we wanted was you, but now, you’ve gotten the girl involved. We will not spare her life.”

The apparent leader walked forward, and unsheathed his sword. Spirius, quickly acting, slashed at his hand. The slash connected, and he dropped his sword. However, the leader pointed his other hand Spirius, and without warning, many deep wounds appeared on Spirius’ arms and legs.

“You really should stop trying. You don’t stand a chance.” He said.

Spirius, ignoring him, ran at him with his sword ready to slash. The leading attacker swung his hand, and an invisible blade connected with Spirius’ hand, causing him to drop his sword. He walked closer to Spirius, and punched him in the stomach. Four more invisible blades pierced him through, as Spirius’ body fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. However, the attacker walked past Spirius, and once again held Lumina by the neck, who was too afraid to resist.

The wounded Spirius mustered all the strength he could, and made one last rush at Lumina’s attacker. However, he was easily stopped, with one backfist thrusted into his face. He put Lumina down, and stepped on Spirius’ bloody body, with his sword ready to stab Spirius through.

“General Koellis?” Another voice sounded. The man immediately yielded.

“I can’t believe you, General.” The other voice continued. “Threatening a civilian girl… A very beautiful one at that…”

“I’m sorry, Lord.” He bowed.

“And, furthermore, you nearly killed this boy. You know I specifically told you to bring him alive.” The lord continued.

“I was not going to…”

“No. I know you, Koellis. You live to kill… However, you’ve done your job. Go, now.”

Koellis nodded, and walked off, along with most of the other soldiers.

“I have personal business with you, Spirius.”

Spirius groaned, “Who are… you?”

“I am known as Kairius. Much like your name… right? Spirius, Kairius… It’s quite weird.”

Spirius merely groaned, “Weird… yeah.”

“I am sorry that Koellis treated you so harshly. I personally needed to talk with you. Are you willing to come with me?” Kairius stepped forward. He had extremely long black hair, down to his waist. His clothes made him seem like a general, apparently, a Lord. His eyes were green, like Spirius’ were, and they seemed to pierce him as he asked Spirius this question.

“Promise… me one thing. Don’t allow anyone… to touch Lumina. That’s the only thing I ask.” Spirius struggled to say.

Lumina looked at him, with tears in her eyes, but still petrified with fear.

“Her? I would never allow her to get hurt, even if you had not asked.”

He walked to Lumina, and said, “You’re very beautiful… Miss Lumina. I also apologize to you… for this incident.”

Lumina blushed, but it was invisible behind the other expression of fear on her face. She barely managed to say, “Oh…”

Kairius turned back to Spirius, “Your answer?”

Spirius struggled to his feet.

“Fine, why not.”