Academy days (Book 2 of IA)

[22] I see...

"When I was still a child, I would often play with my uncle Kazeno. He is undisputedly the strongest elemental within the wind kingdom, and he can create a tornado with just a mere breath." Veritas eyes lit up just for the briefest moment. "He is younger than my father by a decade, so that placed him quite behind in the inheritance line. But he never really had any interest in politics, nor did he have any children."

"Last time when I played with him, he told me he was going to be gone for a while. When I asked him where, he shook his head. When I asked when he was going to be back, he left me with this sentence: 'Veritas you have a strong and kind soul, I want you to treat and love everyone equally, and protect those who cannot protect themselves. Humans and elementals, highborn and lowborn."

Veritas's eyes gleamed like a pair of diamonds in the sky, preciously and carefully crafted at every angle. With a different emotion etched onto each surface. And the deeper I looked, the deeper I became entrapped by the complexity of her being.

"That's...Very touching..." I finally managed to find my voice, after God knows how long I been staring into those perfect diamonds.

"Um...Kard?" Veritas blushed.

"Uhhh...Yes?" I broke away my stare, realising I been staring for far too long.

"It's alright." She laughed it off.

"Oh, oh..." I scratched my head a let out a little nervous laugh. "So could you please continue with the story?"

"Of course, it's a pleasure! Later on I learned my uncle has travelled to Ishta without informing anyone prior. There was an ongoing civil war going on in Ishta between the human Makube clan and the elemental Hashi clan."

"My uncle's main goal was to stop the civil war and he was virtually all by himself. And he managed to do it, by disarming the troops on both sides by summoning a might gale. He managed to stop both sides without killing anyone. Yet he was condemned by both sides, he was condemned by the elementals for helping the humans. And he was condemned by the humans for meddling in human affairs. But since there was no casualties, my uncle was only verbally condemned and criticized. Then..." Veritas drew in a sharp breath.

"The elemental nobility and the human government came to a secret agreement, that they would artificially create casualties on their own side in this proxy war, in order to further tarnation my uncle's image. After the casualties started piling up, the wind kingdom officially stripped him of his rank and sentenced him to exile, and if he were to return to the elemental kingdom, he was to be executed at once. And on the human side, bounties of him began to go up everywhere, even to this day his bounty could be found, and is listed as one of the most dangerous outlaws."

Silence. Seeing I was waiting for to continue she went on:

"After 7 long years, the Ishta civil war came to an end, with both sides splitting the country into two. After that my uncle has disappeared, and rarely any news of him caught wind."

"I see...I am sorry to hear about that. It must be a lot to bear for you as child."

"Indeed..." she lowered her head with her voice striking several sorrowful chord.

"Thank you for your kind words, I am fine. It's all in the past now, I let go of it a long time ago...But..."

"But?"

"Do you remember the time we first met?"

"Of course."

"You have proved my uncle's words with action that day. And I vow to never forget your actions that day."

"..." My lips moved, but no words came out.

Seeing I was unable to perform the basic human function of replying to someone, Veritas giggled.

"What-what's so funny?" I could feel my cheeks warming up.

"Sorry it's just the nervous look on your face, its kind of..." Veritas said, her face color beginning to reflect mine.

"Kind of what?"

"No-nothing!~" she turned away, but that didn't stop her giggling sounds.

Women are impossible to understand, even elementals...

"Oh right! There is something I need to tell you." Veritas clapped her hands together suddenly. Drawing in the attention of the rest of the others.

"Wh-what is it?" I said, a little startled.

"After the final exam, I always wanted to give all you a formal apology for leading all of you into danger and even failing the exam..." her voice dotted off in the end, then she did a miniature bow with her head.

"Oh that...It's fine, we are already over it. Plus-"

"But there is another way back into the school." Veritas cut me off.

"You mean the summer games?" I replied.

"Indeed. It appears you already know."

"Yeah, Dr. Cheerylove told us about it. Something about winning the matches."

"In the simplest form yes. But there is more to it."

We shuffled in our seats for a moment, and Veritas continued:

"First there would be try outs for each elemental dorm, with the final group of 2-5 being the representative team for the dorm. Then there will be the group stages, with 8 teams in one group, with 4 groups' total. The teams will fight each other individually in separate matches, and they will all get to fight each other at least once. The top 2 team by most wins in the group stage will get to advance into the quarter finals. And from quarter finals onward, matches are settled in a single match. And as you probably know already, if your team can make it into the quarter finals, you will be recruited back to IIMT again."

"Huh..." I rubbed my chin. "I am curious. Who is the strongest team in the school?"

"There are many strong teams within the school, but the student council team is undoubtedly the strongest. We only accept the elite of the elite. And even though our president has changed numerous times in the past, our team has won 27 consecutive years so far."
"Dang." I said as I got a brief flashback of Veritas using her powers during the final exam. "But even so, we are not giving up the fight."

Silence.

There was a placid look in Veritas's eyes, but eventually her lips gave way into a smile as she spoke:

"Mhm. I will be looking forward to that."

Q: What do you think of the hunger games?