Somnium Online

On The Side

"He isn't just a weapon!" Anne yelled.

"Actually, that's exactly what he is. No one else except you can fight these invaders from another world."

"Commander, don't let your personal feelings cloud your judgment. At the end of the day, he registered as an adventurer, and he joined our military."

Anne gritted her teeth and scanned the room. The hall was lushly decorated, and of the men seated at the conference table, not a single one of them had even seen combat.

In truth, the military advisors to his majesty the king, or MATH for short were nothing but a drinking club for bored nobles with a mild interest in defending their country.

Anne clenched her fists and tried to keep an even tone. "With all due respect sirs, he is a foreigner, and never officially became a citizen of this country. We can't just force him to fight in our defense."

A few of the men exchanged glances. "Then do what you must to ensure that he does."

Anne bowed her head. "Understood... sir."

As the doors slammed shut behind her at the end of the meeting, she let out a long breath and started back towards the exit. Her superiors wanted Eric to be used as a tool to fight for their own selfish purposes.

She knew that if she told him to, Eric would fight anyone or anything in a heartbeat, it's just the kind of person he was. But Anne wasn't entirely convinced that her superiors had the best interests of the people at heart.

And if she handed Eric over to them as a weapon... She shook her head, getting the image of her head. She wouldn't give him up, not this time.

At the magic academy, sunlight streams into an empty classroom. Dianna stood in the center of the room, a ring of pencils floating around her like rings on a planet, orbiting slowly.

"Why are you gunning so hard for him? You nearly killed him in the duel!"

Dianna rolled her eyes. "He needs to learn some respect. A commoner like him, worse, a foreign commoner, needs to be taught their place. You know the rules better than anyone Anne."

"While that may be true, you're going at him harder than anyone else. I've never seen you go all out like that."

Dianna huffed. "What do you want from me?"

Anne stepped inside the ring of orbiting school supplies and grabbed Dianna by the collar.

"What are you after?" Anne growled.

Dianna met Anne's steely glare head-on. "That kid has perfect control over wind, and use it in ways I never thought possible. There's no way he's human, and you know it. No one except you can block my wind. No one."

Dianna snapped her fingers and the ring of pencils dropped to the ground. "Even with perfect control, I can only hold these pencils up for a few minutes. He hurled boulders with perfect accuracy. What is he, and what the hell did you do to him?"

Anne gritted her teeth. "His name is Eric, and he's going to be the man who keeps this rotten kingdom from collapsing."

Dianna smirked "good luck keeping him then. You know what'll happen if they figure out what you're doing, right?"

Anne growled, "Of course I do."

Dianna smiled "And here I thought you might actually have feelings for him. They don't call you the Ice queen for nothing, huh."

Anne wanted to punch Dianna, but a fight inside the mage academy would do too much damage to the building.

Anne turned to leave. "Oh, and one last thing," Dianna said, holding up a hand. "If you aren't going to take him, I will."

Anne ground her teeth together. "Whatever you might think about what I'm doing, Eric is mine. Get that through your thick skull."

Dianna dropped her hand. "Touché" Anne stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Dianna waited a few seconds, then resumed levitating the pencils.

Lucius watched the sun set over the skyline of the city, the last rays of light dancing over the rooftops.

He tightened his stance and waited. Sasha balanced on one leg closed her eyes, took a deep breath, another launched herself skywards, twisting in midair to bring her heel down on top of Lucius.

Her kick never connected, Lucius had already stepped behind her, and Sasha managed to just barely duck Lucius's fist. It whistled over her head. Sweat beaded on her forehead. If he so much as grazed her, she knew the force of the blow would probably knock her out.

Lucius jumped back, avoiding getting his legs swept out from under him. Sasha came at him, keeping him on his heels. Lucius deflected and dodged a flurry of blows, wincing as a few bounced off his jaw.

Sasha leaped backward, avoiding a lightning-fast roundhouse that could have sent her flying off the roof.

"So, the full release is next week. Any plans?" Lucius asked, sidestepping as Sasha rushed him, and sticking his foot out to trip her.

Sasha avoided his halfhearted trip easily and wheeled around. "Not really, you?"

"I was thinking of taking the kid out for some sightseeing. He spends way too much time at school." Lucius said, jumping over a low kick and retaliating by kicking both his feet forwards. Sasha blocked with her forearms, but the force still sent her skidding backward. Lucius did a backward handspring and landed on his feet.

Damn it! This idiot. Sasha thought to herself. That was your chance to ask me out. I even said I wasn't busy! She rushed in angrily. Lucius tried to roll out of the way but she grabbed him by the ankle and swung him up into the air, then slammed him into the roof. Hard.

Lucius grunted as he smashed into the roof, he rolled to the side just as Sasha would have landed a kick capable of breaking his ribs.

Sasha might be smaller, but Lucius had watched her fell monsters three times her size with just a kick. It was actually pretty terrifying.

They met in the middle of the sparring ring, matching each other blow for blow.

"You could join us if you aren't busy." Lucius offered.

Sasha picked up the pace, and Lucius had to take a step backward.

"Actually, I think something just came up that day," Sasha growled. "You'll have to go sightseeing on your own." Sasha rushed Lucius, who raised his arms to block, and totally missed as she slipped past and behind him, delivering a devastating back kick.

Lucius was airborne and immediately dropped into a defensive fall, rolling out the impact, and coming up onto his feet.

"Wait, was it something I said?" He stammered, starting to get nervous.

Sasha rushed him again, driving him backward and to the edge of the roof.

"H-hey, can we talk about this?" He asked.

Sasha glared at him. "You were supposed to ask me out, idiot." Then, with a blur of motion, she kicked up and out, sending Lucius sailing off the edge of the roof.

He flew over the gap between buildings and crashed into a neighboring rooftop in a shower of roofing tiles, blood, and disbelief.