Merry-Go-Round Second Draft: Chapter Six, End of Part One

Chapter Six – When It Happens

“You’re evil!!!”

“I didn’t even do anything…” Sieural sighed.

“Why didn’t you wait for us?”

“It’s not like you wanted me to wait for you.”

“What?”

“I don’t think it’s me that you wanted to wait.” Sieural grinned, causing Shiriana to blush and swing a closed fist at him.

“That’s not true! I… well…”

“Whatever. I don’t mind.”

“I mean it, though. I didn’t only want to see Deshael. I sorta wanted to thank you.”

“For what?”

“Well…” Shiriana began, and then frowned. “Forget it! It doesn’t matter now!”

Shiriana stomped off, down the stairs and into the dining room.

“Right.” Sieural sighed, and walked into his room.

He stared out the window, and looked towards the academy. In the distance, the bleached white bricks stood out against the rest of the dull green and brown-colored rural scenery.

As if due to a random thought, he walked closer to the window, and pushed open the wood-encased glass. He jumped through the open window, and grabbed onto one of the nearby tree branches. Using it to slow his fall, he landed safely on the grass in front of the house.

“What are you, a monkey?”

“No, I think that’s Deshael.” Sieural immediately recognized the voice.

“Can’t disagree there.” Alexis smiled.

“Didn’t think you would. And what brings you here?”

“Is taking a walk so wrong?”

“Not at all.” Sieural shrugged. “Mind if I join you?”

“Already trying to escape from those three sisters?” Alexis laughed.

“No, just Shiriana.” Sieural sighed, as they began walking down the dusty, dry path.

“I was joking, Sieural.” Alexis continued to giggle.

“Whatever.” Sieural grinned, and asked, “So, why did you move to Elleani?”

“My father lives there… that’s about it.”

“How is it there?”

“Big… everything is a lot bigger than Kereial. I… can’t even say I really like it, either. I just like the way I used to live here. It’s… nicer.”

“I see.”

“And, how has life been while I was gone?”

“Uneventful. Same old… I guess. Although, we all did miss you.”

“Uneventful? That’s not including the house incident, right?”

“No. Including.”

“Haha…” Alexis laughed. “I know I’m home when I hear your signature cynicism!”

“Whatever.” Sieural sighed.

“You know, I came here from Elleani to investigate that…”

“Investigate? Investigate how?”

“Well, as you probably know, magicians are a lot rarer there than here. So, there are a lot of specialized jobs for people who have trained in magical arts… This is a part of it, I guess you could say.”

“Oh. Okay…” Sieural started, and then remembered what Shiriana had said yesterday. “Oh, actually, according to Shiriana, the cause of the fire was a magical cause.”

“Shiriana? Sory’s little sister?” Alexis gasped.

“Yeah. That’s what she said.”

“Well, that certainly is interesting. I’m gonna go talk to her.” Alexis said, quickly turning around, kicking up a small amount of dust. “I know you’re trying to avoid her, but would you like to come? It does concern you, after all.”

“It doesn’t really concern me, since my house burned a while–,”

“You coming or not?” Alexis interrupted, grinning.

Sieural sighed. “Why not.”

Alexis nodded, and quickly ran off towards Soriana’s house.

“She’s certainly in a hurry.” Sieural said, without quickening his pace.

After a short, five minute walk, Sieural reached his new residence, Soriana and her sisters’ house. As he walked inside, he saw his pink-haired friend energetically questioning Shiriana, yet still seeming friendly.

Shiriana had a bright smile on her face, presumably upon seeing Alexis. She was very good friends with Alexis, after all. However, as soon as she noticed that Sieural had walked in through the front door, she frowned.

Alexis and Soriana, who had just walked down from the upstairs area of the house, both noticed this, and laughed in unison.

“She really does hate you, Sieural.” Alexis grinned.

Before Sieural could say anything in response, Shiriana spoke up. “It’s not that I hate him… but…. Right now, I’m mad at him.”

“I don’t think he knows what he did, Shiri.” Soriana said to her little sister.

“Nope.” Sieural sighed.

“But… I was yelling at him earlier about it.” Shiriana pouted.

Sieural sighed. “Oh, that. Sorry. I guess.”

“That didn’t sound sincere at all, Sieural!” Alexis said, loudly.

“Actually, Ariana was pretty unhappy too.” Soriana frowned.

“Really? I guess I have to apologize to her too.” Sieural said, walking toward the stairs.

“Why do you apologize to her and not me?”

“Because she didn’t yell at me without telling me why.” Sieural said, as he disappeared into the upper level of the house.

Shiriana fumed, frowning. Attempting to fix her bad mood, Alexis continued to ask her questions about the burning house incident.

Sieural walked up to the door of Ariana’s room, which was closed. A cute colored drawing was hung on the door.

From inside, Sieural could hear the sniffles of a recently-crying nine-year-old girl.

To himself, Sieural said, “Pretty unhappy, my foot.”

Sieural knocked on the oaken door, hoping Ariana would respond.

“Yes?” Ariana’s high-pitched cute voice said.

“Umm…” Sieural began, and within milliseconds, Ariana’s light footsteps ran towards the door, and it flew open.

“Sayu!” Ariana exclaimed, running to Sieural and embracing him.

“Sorry.”

“Did you come here to apologize? But… I wasn’t that mad.”

“You were crying…” Sieural said, almost sighing.

“That’s… that’s because… I…”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m sorry.”

“Oh… But…” Ariana tried to continue, but her eyes began to well up with tears again.

“Hey, don’t cry again. I’m here.” Sieural said, as Ariana hugged him harder.

“Thank you…” Ariana said, after a little while.

Soriana, who was walking up the stairs, saw this, and smiled. As Ariana smiled brightly and skipped down the stairs, Soriana said, “Ari likes you a lot.”

“I can see that…” Sieural sighed. “Is there any reason?”

Soriana blushed. “Well… you do kind of look like our older brother, Sei. So, that’s why Ari likes you… I think.”

“Oh. So that’s why.” Sieural replied. “I can’t really change that…”

“Do you not like Ari?”

“I’m not used to the attention she gives me, that’s all.” Sieural said, walking past Soriana, and down the stairs.

“Don’t like the attention…?” Soriana said, with a slight look of concern on her face, as she walked into her room.

The moment Sieural reached the bottom floor of his new house, a small stuffed animal flew at his face.

“Why are you so nice to Ari?! You apologized to her, and… and…”

“Shiri, it’s okay… If you ask Sayu, he’ll apologize.”

“Sayu?” Alexis, who was still downstairs with the two younger siblings, said, laughing.

Sieural sighed in exasperation. “Yeah?”

“You don’t like that name?” Alexis could immediately tell what Sieural was thinking.

“Not at all.”

“I kinda think it’s cute…”

“Does he look cute to you?” Shiriana said, scowling.

“Ummm… yeah…” Ariana smiled a smile that only a nine-year-old could have, and hugged her “older brother”.

“Now that I look at it… Sieural, you are pretty cute.” Alexis said, laughing.

Ariana gasped and blushed. “But… But…”

“It’s okay, Ari. I won’t take him from you.” Alexis continued to giggle.

“I’m leaving.” Sieural said, pulling his arm free from Ariana, and walking out the half open door. As he walked out, he walked by Hal, Soriana and her sisters’ mother. However, he did not reply, and continued walking, head toward the ground.

As he left, he could hear Hal exclaim something loudly, presumably upon seeing Alexis for the first time in a year.

He continued walking, down the path he was on with Alexis not long ago. The sun continued to set slowly beyond the mountains that separated Kereial, the city that he lived in, and the large, metropolitan city, Elleani, the city that both Sei, the man he had somehow replaced, and Alexis, Sieural’s old friend, had now lived.

Every day, as the sun set, the cold air from the ever-snow-capped mountains sunk down into the valley that Kereial was located in. Even if it was in the middle of the warm season, the nights were still cold.

The continent was separated into three main areas. The parts that made up a majority of the land, especially in the south and north, were coastal plains. In fact, so much of the continent was so close to sea level that the geography significantly changed every time the water level of the sea rose.

In the central area of the continent were the high mountains that acted as a barrier between the northern and southern provinces of the continent. These mountains were so high and dense that even during the summer, they were filled with snow. However, when the winter seasons came, the snow spread from the tips of the mountaintops to the very edge of the coast.

The third area is the most agricultural and fertile area, where the rivers that began in the mountains intersected. These rivers flowed to the northerncoastal plains, often flooding and rendering many acres of coastal area uninhabitable. Elleani was the largest city on the continent, and was located on this river basin in northern half of the mountains, on the opposite side of the mountains of Kereial.

“I wonder what it’s like in Elleani…” Sieural said to himself, staring at the northern sky, towards the white-colored mountains.

As he continued walking, he passed the bleached-brick gate of the Military Academy of Kereial. The academy was located just near the entrance to the gate of the city of Kereial.

As Sieural passed by the wooden gate, he saw a group of around six robed men rush by, nearly colliding with him. On the back of their robes was an intricate insignia that read “Protectorate” in gold cursive letters. Along with each one’s mysterious robes were one broadsword for each and every one of them.

As they rushed by, Sieural said, casually, “Really inconspicuous…”

However, the black-clad men did not stop, and continued running.

“Man, it’s REALLY hard to ignore something like that.” Sieural said, continuing his walk.

However, he only took two steps, before saying to himself, “Yep. Something’s going to happen. Something bad.”

He turned around quickly, and stealthily but quickly followed the group of mysterious men.

As they continued turning through the small city, the area became more and more familiar to Sieural.

To his surprise, he found himself standing in front of his good friend Oaklyn’s house.

“The hell are they doing here? They better not try to break—,”

To Sieural’s dismay, the group of men charged through the door. With incredible strength, they simply plowed right through the wooden door, sending splinters everywhere.

“—In…” Sieural finished his sentence.

Sieural hesitated for a moment, and then decide to go into Oaklyn’s house, just in case he was needed… for whatever reason, although, he hoped that he wouldn’t need to help.

He rushed through the shattered door-frame, and once again, to his dismay, Oaklyn was already caught in a fierce battle with the six robed men.

Without hesitating, Sieural grabbed a nearby broom, and smacked one of the assailants in the back of the head at full force.

“Six men verses one girl. Hardly fair.” Sieural grinned.

~~~

The way that the Military Academy taught their students specialized ways of fighting was through alternating between normal practice, and specialized practice. Each student was given fourteen terms to determine what weapon they would learn to use. Sieural and Soriana had grown to like the Katana. Oaklyn preferred the Spear. Deshael and Yukishi preferred daggers. Sometimes, a magician who was physically strong enough to wield a weapon also trained. Alexis was an example of this. In addition to fire magic, she used a scythe.

Each warrior was issued his or her own personalized weapon specially made for each person, fitting their own personal fighting style.

~~~

“Sieural?! What are you doing here?” Oaklyn called out, holding her personalized spear. Its silver shaft parried numerous attacks from her attackers, even as she spoke to her good friend.

“Saving you. What does it look like?” Sieural said, as he struck another black-clad man in the chest.

However, the broom he was swinging also had a few drawbacks. Two of the six attackers changed their focus, and began to attack Sieural. Sieural avoided one slash by stepping back, but when the second slash came, he was unable to dodge. He attempted to block the attack… but metal cuts wood.

The tough metal broadsword slicked right through the wooden broom, causing Sieural to suddenly shift his weight backwards in order to dodge the slash, causing him to nearly fall down.

Luckily for Sieural, Oaklyn had the wherewithal to kick one of the nearby chairs into his attackers, toppling them, giving him enough time to recover his balance and find another sort of weapon. This time, it was a metal oil lamp.

Using a heavier object, Sieural struggled to swing the lamp full force, but he was still able to block his opponent’s attacks. Using the weight of the lamp, he smashed one of his attackers into the blue wall, only to be attacked from both sides by another two. He ducked under two consecutive slashes, and kicked one in the stomach. Sieural nearly fell backwards, due to the impact of his foot and his assailant’s stomach, and used the lamp as a support. However, the third enemy slashed with his sword, connecting with the lamp, bending the metal, rendering it useless. The impact also sent Sieural reeling.

Oaklyn was having an easier time, however, and was able to parry most of the attacks of her three attackers with ease. She blocked one slash after another, until she finally decided to make a move. She blocked one attacker’s sword downwards, into the wooden floor. By spinning her lance, she thrusted the back of the shaft into the neck of that enemy, causing him to fly backwards. Acting quickly, she grabbed the broadsword that was still stuck in the ground, and tossed it at Sieural.

“Catch!” she yelled, as the dark lethal steel flew through the air.

Sieural rolled to dodge another slash, and grabbed the sword before it landed. Jumping to his feet, finally with a real weapon, he slashed at his attackers with real force.

“This is getting annoying.” One of the robed fighters said, with a voice higher than Sieural would have expected.

“Tell me about it.” Sieural said, taking advantage of the momentary break in action.

Sieural was exhausted, breathing hard, and sweating profusely. And, he expected Oaklyn to be the same. Yet, when he turned to look at her, she seemed to have no signs of fatigue, and stood upright, holding her silver lance in a battle-ready position.

“What the hell do you guys want with Oaklyn?” Sieural shouted.

“It’s none of your business.”

“I’m sorry to disagree, but I think that killing one of my best friends is my business.” Sieural said, gathering his breath.

“Really? Well, I’m also sorry to disagree, but isn’t friendship just one fragile, fleeting feeling?” The apparent leader said, whose face was still hidden by the pitch black robe.

“Maybe. Whatever. I still don’t think it’s right for you to attack her.”

“Don’t I have a say in this at all?” Oaklyn said, still holding her spear.

“It no longer matters what you two have to say. I’m finishing this now.”

A silver ring appeared around the wrist of their robed attacker, slowly increasing in luminosity and brightness.

Not curious to see what would happen if the light became too bright, Sieural attacked. However, as if to protect their leader for him to finish, the other five fighters stepped into the way, and engaged Sieural and Oaklyn in another battle.

Sieural blocked one attack, and pushed the blade to the side. He continued by kicking his attacker in the face, and spun to block another attack at his side. Oaklyn also began her offensive, thrusting her spear and parrying attacks.

The group of five warriors slowly split apart, separating Oaklyn and Sieural, and as the battle continued, with the clash of swords and spears, it soon became harder and harder for Sieural to continue fighting. His fatigue started to get the most of him, and his slashes became slower, and weaker.

Sieural, unable to continue fighting for much longer, decided to take a risk that would probably end his life, whether it worked or not. He threw his sword at the leader, hoping to hit him in the head and hopefully end the battle.

However, much to his despair, the leader simply caught the sword with his hand. The white light that had started as a ring was now some sort of protective glove. And Sieural also had reason to believe that the glove was also used for attacking. Using the light that emanated from his hand, he shattered the broadsword in his hand, sending metal fragments everywhere.

“Shall we finish this?” The leader said, as he raised his glowing fist.

“Well, great.” Sieural said to himself. “Now what?”

The leader immediately rushed towards Oaklyn, who still had energy to fight. Even if he was using one fist to attack her, he was able to block Oaklyn’s lance.

“It’s useless.” The leader said, dodging one thrust, and grabbing the spear.

Now weaponless, Oaklyn could not defend herself from that glowing fist.

Without hesitating, he punched her in the stomach, releasing every inch of the energy into the attack.

What resulted was a blur… a vague memory… The white flash that suddenly appeared from his hand seemingly tore through Oaklyn’s body. Not only did that force cut through her, but the wall behind her. Oaklyn’s lifeless body collapsed to the tattered floor.

“As for you…” The attacker had turned to Sieural now.

“…” Sieural was speechless.

“Damn you.” He said angrily, with an almost warped voice, as he struggled to his feet.

He took one step forward, and a second flash of light, this time, a light blue flash, filled the room.