Our second world- Book two: War is coming

Chapter 17

~Marylyn

-January 1, 4042~

It was early in the morning, likely only a little past three, and I was on my way to Harens room across the hall from mine. Having just woken up from another nightmare.

Artemis was asleep like usual, but when I crawled into Harens bed, I found him awake.

"Is something wrong, dad?" I asked.

"N-no," I could hear a strain in his voice, as if he'd been crying.

"Please don't lie to me. Tell me what's wrong."

He looked down at his lap, tears in his eyes. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him. Letting him cry silently for a while before he finally calmed down again.

"I had a dream we were on a battle field surrounded by black fire. It was just the two of us. We were running from something, I was pulling you behind me, then you were gone. That's when I woke up." He said, shakily.

"Well... it was just a dream. It doesn't necessarily mean anything." I replied," By the way, dad, it's not nice to eaves drop."

August laughed and sat up," Sorry, I didn't mean too, but I didn't want to ruin your little moment." He said, sliding forward to pull me onto his lap," Where did you learn that little bit of wisdom?"

"Klara used to tell me that a lot." I said, looking down at my hands. I had almost forgotten, but the memory was a painful one.

Shortly after we'd left a few months ago, we got word that an awful sickness went through Diantha. Many in the city died, along with Klara, Leyla, and two maids I didn't know. On top of the sickness, Elen had gone missing.

"Oh, look. It's already six o'clock," I smiled, pushing the memory to the back of my mind," Wait for me. I'll go get dressed and we can have breakfast."

I jumped off the bed and quietly crept through the hall to my room.

It was smaller than most other rooms because I didn't share with anyone. There was only one bed pushed against the wall and a small wardrobe next to it. Since my room was on the edge of the east side, I had a window. True, it was only a small window, but if I stood on my bed, I could look out onto one of the fields.

There were only two things in my closet. One was my uniform and the other was the lavender dress that Haren bought me. The uniform was a size extra small, but it still needed heavy adjustments to fit me. As such, a lot of the extra material was used as decorative ribbons. One was a lot longer and thicker that the others; I tied that one twice around my waist. I had used some wire in one end and could use the sash as a whip if needed, and it would hold my weight so I could climb with it as well. Another ribbon was used to tie up my hair and others went on my boots.

Most of the modifications were done by me, and I didn't mean to sound boastful, but I had to admit it turned out really well. Better than I thought it would anyway.

Happy with how I looked in uniform after tying up my hair in pigtails, I went out to the hall to find both Haren and August dressed and waiting.

~Later~

When we were done with breakfast, one of the higher ranked officers approached us.

He was probably only in his twenties or thirties, and looked a lot like August when his hair was still blond, only more feminine.

"I'm sorry to ask, but I'd like you to train in some of the new arrivals from the academy. Some of them are on the younger side so I thought you'd be the best for the job," He said," Feel free to say no if you don't want to."

"It's fine, Klaus," Haren replied," I don't need to be doing anything else, so I'm free to help out."

"Really? Thank you. I'll show you to them, then."

Haren and I followed him all the way out to the farthest training field. A group of teenagers were waiting in plain clothes. Black t-shirts and gray pants, or skirts and leggings in the girls case, and black lace up boots.

Two were girls and the other three were boys.

One of the girls had short, bright orange hair and looked to be the youngest. The other girl and two of the boys had matching straw colored hair and pale blue eyes. They all looked pretty similar so I guessed they were either triplets or siblings. The final member of their little group had dusty black hair and was taller than the others so he was probably the oldest of the five.

Klaus said goodbye and headed back to the main building while Haren stood quietly observing the group for a few minutes. The black haired boy seemed bored, the triplets couldn't seem to stay still, and the shortest girl avoided eye contact with everyone like the plague.

"Right. I've gotten my first impression of you guys now." Haren said, his expression blank," Introduce yourselves and we'll see if that changes."

"Yes sir!" The blonde girls hand shot up," My name is Asashi Sabrael!" She grinned enthusiastically.

The shorter boy next to her went next," I'm Aien Sabrael!" He said with the same amount of enthusiasm.

"And I'm Aimar Sabrael." Said the taller brother.

Haren nodded and pointed to the orange haired girl," Next, you."

"S-sir! Radelia Sylris, sir!" She squeaked.

He nodded again and turned to the last boy," And you?" He asked.

"Silver Nova," The boy replied monotone.

"Right. My first impressions haven't changed. Radelia is shy and doesn't like to talk much. The triplets are attention seekers, and Silver pretends he doesn't care about anything. Well? How'd I do?"

"Perfectly!" The triplets giggled.

Radelia blushed," It's embarrassing, but you were correct."

Silver rolled his eyes," Tch. Lucky guess." He grumbled.

"I'm going to give you a test now. You have until eight tonight and you're going to be participating in a mock battle against Mary. If you can take her down before the time's up, you pass. If you can't or you're all knocked out before then, you fail. you have twenty minutes to prepare."

~20 minutes later~

I waited by Haren while the five others scoured the weapon racks for the weapon they wanted. Meanwhile, I was making sure my dual sheath was securely in place under my sash. There have been more than one occasion where it's fallen off and caused problems.

With their preparations finished, they spread out on the field.

"Ready? Start!"

"Hah! This'll be easy!" Silver scoffed.

He charged forward before the others could protest and swung down on me with his large broad sword. I side stepped and kicked him. causing him to roll a few yards in the dirt.

"Is this guy serious? That attack had no form whatsoever." I thought, watching him slowly get up.

"Ouch. that looked like it hurt." Asashi held back a snicker.

"Yeah! Cause I wasn't expecting her to kick me!" Silver shot back.

"Just because your opponent holds a weapon doesn't mean they will use it against you," I said with a smile.

"Well, now that I know that," Aien and Aimar charged my sides with short swords while Asashi took my front with her own.

I blocked the attack from both boys, knocking them backwards and parried Asashis' sword. She jumped back a few steps too far. I closed the gap and sent her flying into one of her brothers.

I turned to Radelia and smiled," I'll go easier on you, so don't worry."

"I-I appreciate it," She stuttered, raising her staff.