Merry-Go-Round First Draft: Chapter One

Chapter One: Lazily Drifting…

The morning sunlight shone through the window, and onto the young boy’s face. His long dark black hair covered part of his face, blocking the sunlight from fully lighting his face. As the sunlight slowly crawled up his face as the sun rose, the boy instinctively turned away from the window, shielding his eyes from the new day. The sun continued its slow but steady crawl over the boy’s body, until he had no choice but to slowly pull himself out of bed. He blinked twice, getting accustomed to the new brightness that filled his room. Nobody woke him up, and it was his responsibility to pull himself out of bed, and off to school in the morning.

The room, built with glazed wooden boards as the floor, reflected the calm sunlight, filling the room with a peaceful amber glow, a peace that the boy would soon have to leave. A picture hung on the door of his room, of his parents. A smaller picture hung below it, of him, as a much younger child. To the right of the two portraits hung a calendar. The boy looked at the calendar before shaking his head slightly, and tore off the top page. Today would be a special day for most people, but for him, it was nothing out of the ordinary. He read the new date sleepily, January 7^th, 199, and walked out of his room. Beneath the calendar was a note, written by the boy, which read, “Hello and Goodbye, January 7^th.”

He walked past his white wooden door, into the quiet house that awaited him. He lived alone, an orphan forced to survive on his own. His parents had died earlier, January 7^th, 196, three years before today. He walked sleepily toward the front door of the house, not eating anything for the morning. A small wrapped gift lay on the doorstep. He shrugged, and let it lay on the floor, under the morning sun. Not only was it the anniversary of his parents’ death, but his birthday. Today, this orphan turned 15.

He picked up his sword, which laid near the front door. It was a blunt weapon, used for training in school, and although he never actively trained with it, he was rather skilled. He pulled the sword, in its scabbard, up to his back, and walked off to school.

The dirt path he traveled on to reach the school was usually crowded with other students talking with others. The sun continued to bear down atop the walking students’ heads, and despite it being the winter season, was still warm. As other students began to fill the road, the boy felt more and more uncomfortable. He looked to the deep blue sky, and turned his eyes away from the bright sunlight. He had walked this path so often that he could find his way to his school with his eyes closed… as long as he didn’t fall asleep. He walked the same path every day, and every time, there was always one solitary tree, with beautiful pink flowers. This tree always calmed the boy’s mind, allowing him to take his mind off of the tedious and repetitive life of a student.

He would always sit under the tree every day for about ten minutes, watching the pairs of students walk by, talking and conversing in meaningless conversation. He looked up once again to the tree that was on top of him.

Aloud, he said, “It looks so much more beautiful today.”

A wind picked up, and a few pink blossoms fell to the ground. Before long, each one of them was trampled by the passing students; frail beauty. After a few minutes of watching the pink flowers float to the ground, he pulled himself up to his feet, and continued the journey to his school. As the wind blew once more, his hair fell over his face, and a cherry blossom landed on his shoulder. He picked the blossom off his shoulder, and held it as he walked. He managed to tune out the conversations of the nearby students, allowing him to absent-mindedly continue on his path. Only until he saw someone that would listen to him, would he snap back to reality.

As the youth saw this person ahead, he suddenly shattered his thoughtful, absentminded mindset, and broke into a jog. He called out, “Oakley! Oakley!!!”

The deep-red haired boy, Oakley, turned around, and smiled brightly at his caller. “Hey, Spirius! How was your week-long break? It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

Spirius, the black haired boy, replied, “Oh… It was normal… That’s what everything’s been these days… Normal… All I did was—,”

A silver haired girl, Lumina, walked past Spirius, and took stride to the right of Oakley. She was walking slightly faster that Oakley and Spirius were, and Oakley kept pace. This allowed Spirius to fall behind, still in mid sentence. He was still lethargic from his slow awakening, and instead of trying to catch up himself, he turned his head back up to the blue sky, and began thinking again.

~~~~~

“You idiot! Do you even know where you’re going?!” a boy, from behind Spirius asked.

“Huh?” Spirius voiced his confusion aloud, and looked forward once again. He quickly turned around, and saw a short-white-haired boy waiting for Spirius at the school gates.

“You did it again!!! What in all hells is wrong with you?!” The boy screamed, motioning for Spirius to come back.

Spirius, still visibly in a state of confusion, looked around, with two blinks of perplexity. After a few seconds of examining his surroundings, he finally turned around and walked to the school entrance.

The white-haired boy, who was waiting for him, hit him lightly over the head. “What are you, retarded? How the hell do you walk past the school gate?!”

Spirius did nothing but shrug, and say, “Sorry, Deshael. I’ve been absent-minded today.”

Deshael laughed, and replied, “You’re always like that! What’s it been, 4 times you’ve done that now?”

Spirius shrugged again, and said, sleepily, “I’m just not interested in anything right now. I feel like I’m just… floating through my life. Not that I don’t like it.”

Deshael, grinning, poked Spirius in the ribs with his elbow, and pointed at Lumina, who was talking with Oakley about 15 feet away. “I know what would make you interested!”

Spirius, who did have a crush on the beautiful Lumina, blushed, and punched Deshael in the shoulder. “Shut up, just shut up.”

Deshael raised his hands, as if in defeat, and sighed, “Fine, fine. But you know I’m right.”

Spirius, in frustration, said, “Yes, you’re right. Now, really, shut up.”

Deshael laughed once more as the call for the first class was sounded. They went their separate ways.

~~~~~

Spirius had always been proficient at schoolwork. He never studied, and never practiced, but he was always at the top of his class, in both the historical training class, and the strategic tutoring class. He never tried, but always was the best of his group. Nothing of that kind interested him.

However, those classes only made up two thirds of the school day. The third class was the class that Spirius actually enjoyed, and it was a true battle simulation and duel training lesson. Not only was it an interesting class, but most of the people he knew and was friends with were in that class. They always made good rivals for the day, and although Spirius never practiced, he was still among the best of the school. Only 3 people he had ever dueled had ever beaten him; Deshael, Oakley, and Lumina. With his practice sword still strapped to his back. He walked to the third and final class of the day, to the field behind the school.

~~~~~

The class started with a period of one on one duel training. Everybody would choose a partner, and duel with that partner until the instructors decided that it was time to switch to the second event, that occurred only once every month, an all out practice battle. The class was separated into 2 groups, and were told to fight each other. The objective was to eliminate the whole other team through fighting. The instructors would go around and help various students with a variety of battle skills.

~~~~~

“Yah!!!” Spirius grunted, as he rushed toward Deshael, his partner, for the first attack. Deshael, the fastest person in the school, did nothing but take a step back to avoid the slash. Spirius continued to rush forward, taking consecutive slashes, with each one being easily dodged. Every so often, Deshael would dodge a slash, and retaliate with a quick slash of his own. When this happened, Spirius would break from his normal trend of slashing, and block the swipe. As many attacks that Deshael could dodge, Spirius could parry.

This exchange of slashes continued for 15 minutes; Spirius’ continual slashing and Deshael’s evading. Spirius called out, “Will you stop it?! Damn it…” Spirius easily got frustrated, especially when dueling Deshael.

Deshael smiled, and replied, “What, not smart enough to find a way on your own?”

Spirius, even more frustrated at Deshael, took a headlong rush at him, slashing at his torso. As Spirius anticipated, Deshael took a step back. This time, Spirius didn’t stop, and continued his rush at Deshael with a vicious swipe at his torso. Deshael parried the rushing blade to the left, and took a quick swipe at Spirius’ head. Spirius ducked, allowing Deshael’s swipe to travel over him, and leaned backward, transferring his weight to his back foot. However, Deshael took a step forward, and with his sword directly above Spirius, simply dropped it onto Spirius’ head. Spirius fell backwards, and without hesitation, Deshael held out his hand to pull Spirius up.

“Arrgh! What the hell?” Spirius yelled, not used to losing to Deshael as simply as he did today.

“You focused? Your mind is somewhere else… As it always is…” Deshael asked, concerned.

Spirius nodded, showing silent confirmation, and turned to his right, to look at Lumina, who had paired up with Oakley.

Deshael followed Spirius’ eyesight, and laughed. “Ohhhhh, I see.” He hit Spirius lightly over the head, causing him to turn his attention back to Deshael. “Rematch?”

Spirius nodded once more, and readied his sword. “Fine. Don’t worry. I won’t lose this time.”

Deshael shrugged, and readied his sword once again.

Spirius, once again, rushed toward Deshael first. He slashed, and again, Deshael nimbly stepped back to dodge the swipe at his chest. This repeated itself multiple times, before Spirius once again got frustrated.

“Stop that!!!” Spirius yelled, as he retried his rushing-slash at Deshael’s torso. As Deshael stepped back again, Spirius continued running at Deshael, who once again took a swipe at Spirius’ head. This time, Spirius blocked the swipe upwards. Deshael quickly spun around, bring his blade around for another slash at Spirius’ feet. Spirius jumped over the slash, and attacked Deshael in mid-air. He blocked the slash, which forced Spirius backward about 5 feet.

Spirius, panting, said, “Jeez! Why can’t I hit you, damn it?”

Deshael, also panting, replied, “I’m better than you. Ha.”

Instead of replying to Deshael, Spirius rushed at Deshael once more. Deshael took a step back, and slashed at Spirius’ head again. Spirius, this time, ducked under the slash, but leaned forward, and used his momentum to roll into Deshael. Spirius took the chance to hit Deshael in the chest with his sword, who, consequently, fell backwards. This time, Spirius stood up, and held his hand down to Deshael. He grabbed Spirius’ hand, and pulled himself up.

Spirius smiled. “One-one. Again.”

Deshael replied, “We never seem to beat each other. We’ve been equal forever. We make good rivals.”

Spirius, still smiling, replied, “Equal forever, huh?”

Their conversation was interrupted by the instructor calling out to begin the second drill, the all out practice-battle. The class separated into two teams; the elite of one team, Deshael and Spirius, the elite of the other, Oakley and Lumina.

Spirius’ thoughts for the first half of the drill were focused on impressing Lumina. All he thought about were ways to impress the girl he loved. And until he was almost eliminated by the worst student in the class, he stayed in his day-dreaming state.

Deshael called out to Spirius, “What the hell are you doing?! Pay attention!”

Spirius nodded, and truly did pay attention to the drill.

~~~~~

The fight continued, until all who were left were Oakley, Lumina, Spirius and Deshael. Oakley and Lumina, who knew about Spirius’ reckless battle tactics, waited for him to make the first attack. Without hesitation, he did so, initiating a 2 on 1 battle. He was almost eliminated before Deshael finally jumped in, blocking the slash what would have eliminated him.

Lumina and Oakley then began mirroring each others’ moves attacking both Deshael and Spirius simultaneously. Lumina and Oakley’s combined skills could be executed with extreme precision, but always had to look pretty, like a dance. That made it easy for Spirius to come up with his own plan to fight back.

Deshael, who was shorter than Spirius, stood behind them. Lumina and Oakley, who always attacked in a form mirroring the other, attacked Spirius in the same place at the exact same time. Spirius easily blocked both attacks, and called to initiate Spirius and Deshael’s own joint attack.

Deshael jumped over Spirius, and landed his sword on the head of the unsuspecting Oakley. Lumina took that period of vulnerability to hit Deshael on his side. Quickly, the fight became a 1 on 1.

Spirius, once again, started the duel. He rushed at Lumina, with his shoulder-length black hair flowing behind him. Lumina anticipated this, and took a step backwards. She slashed at Spirius’ head, who easily recognized this same scenario in the duel with Deshael. Once again, Spirius ducked, and leaned forward, using his momentum to move forward, slashing Lumina in the chest. However, he didn’t stop himself, and collided into her, falling on top of her.

As Spirius look down, Lumina’s face turned a deep red, and Spirius knew he was mirroring that. However, he was a bit too shocked to move, and stayed frozen on top of Lumina, until she said, shyly and quietly, “Um… could you… uh… get off of me, please?”

Spirius quickly apologized, with his face still bright red. “Oh… Sorry!” He picked himself off of Lumina, and stood up, and held his hand down, offering to help pull her up. She grabbed Spirius’ hand, and after getting up, congratulated him. “Good job…”

Spirius, confused, said, “Huh? For what?”

Deshael ran toward Spirius, and hit him over the head. “You won, you idiot! You won!”

Spirius stayed confused for a few more seconds, until a look of enlightenment filled his face. “Ohhhhh… I did? Wait… I did!”

Deshael sighed in exasperation, and waited by Spirius until Lumina was far enough away to not hear them two. “That was awesome! You know what you just did, right?”

Spirius, once again confused, said, “I won?”

Deshael hit Spirius again over the head, and said, “No! Your last move… You ended up laying on top of her! How was it?”

Spirius’ face turned bright red again, as he yelled, “I didn’t do it on purpose!!!”

Deshael laughed, as he ran off ahead of Spirius, saying, “Riiight.”

Spirius just shrugged, and began the walk home.

~~~~~

He walked back home on the same crowded path that he took while walking to school. The same cherry blossom tree was on the side of the road, and he took the same break. Everything was the same. He continued to tune out the world around him, looking at the sky. The pink flowers still littered the ground; the wind had apparently picked up. His black hair flowed once again over his face, as he walked in the deep yellow afternoon light that bathed the world. A soft moon could be seen, and as always, one single star would be seen, even in the bright light of the afternoon. Spirius used to pray to that star, believing that because it was the star that always existed, it symbolized everlasting life. Now, he knew that it was there because it was closer than most others. The flawed theories that he made when he was younger were all destroyed by logic. Even the people he knew as a child left him Everything seemed so different, and he didn’t like it. He wasn’t compelled to live through this boring, repetitive life… He felt as if he was lazily drifting… through life. Even on the momentous occasion of his birthday, he felt exactly the same.