Control Comes from Within

“So, have you done Passen’s assignment yet?”

“I just finished it two nights ago! Having to list the differences between the anatomy of the three races was so –”

“Did you hear Ephriniem is getting expelled? Apparently he and a certain someone were too rambunctious in their late-night –”

“What did you think of the latest designs made by Madam Tourberry? The needlework is elegant, of course, but I’m not sure if the embroidery is recreat –”

“Then I punched him in the face while our blades were locked! Of course, Sir Yalmaar said in a real fight I would probably lose an arm like that, but a win’s a win, right?”

“I’m really looking forward to learning more about pacting! Once I go back home, I’ll bond with something scary and scare my little brother as soon as he wakes up! Oh, don’t give me that look, Unemii, I know what you’ve done is at least – “

The cacophony of voices washed over me like a scratchy blanket, but I put up with it as I usually did. The snippets of conversations I managed to overhear didn’t bring up any topics too relevant to me, so I was content to simply follow along until something interesting caught my ear.

The park where I found myself was acting as the current venue for the Gafft twins’ weekly gathering. It was too casual to be called a banquet, and too formal to be considered a party. There were no invitations, so anyone could come or go as they pleased, so long as they knew someone at the gathering and their temperament was more or less aligned with the twins’.

At first, the gathering only consisted of Riddis, Orddis, a few of their close friends and myself, but as time passed it ballooned up to nearly eighty people. Thankfully, there were never that many people present at once, as schoolwork took precedence, but if I ever found out that too many people would be attending, I’d find a reason not to go, citing an assignment or studying as the reason. I had no desire to be the wallflower at the party who only knew a few people…again.

That part of my life was over and done with.

“So Rhaaj, have you settled on a weapon yet?” A voice drew me back to the conversation.

Orddis and a couple other guys were discussing something combat-related, and I had tuned them out. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before, just combat theory and little tips and tricks to maintain your stamina.

“Sorry, what?” I asked politely.

“Your WEAPON!” Tyrithen half-shouted at me all too happily. The other commoner boy from my taming class had fit in well with the group, judging by his exuberant tone and the bright smile he wore. “Have you chosen one yet? Most of us have at least settled on a certain type by now, though you and Fied here are the only ones who haven’t –”

Before he could get another word out, a chorus of high-pitched whines echoed out across the city, drowning out every other sound. As soon as the first sound echoed out, everyone stopped talking as faces went slack, jaws dropped, and eyes widened in fear, or perhaps shock.

I had learned during my first week at the academy what that sound meant:

Monster attack.

I was dreading the possibility of this day ever arriving, and now it had.

To their credit, the twins recovered quickly and corralled everyone together, herding the students back to the academy and making sure everyone returned safely, as that was the safest spot for them in case of emergencies. A part of my dread melted away as the burden of responsibility was shouldered by two people who apparently knew what to do.

It came creeping back as I rushed to my designated assembly point, moving through the students and faculty calmly walking to their proper place. Most students and staff would be safe within the academy, as it was literally built to fend off hordes of attacking monsters. As a student, I too should have been sheltered by the academy’s walls, but as a transfer student, I had an obligation to fulfill. I alternated between jogging and walking as I made my way to the administration building, the meeting point for anyone who volunteered to fight, a group I begrudgingly found myself a part of.

There was a cluster of individuals milling about in the vicinity of the admin building’s entrance. A stereotypical armored knight was standing on the steps to the building shouting out instructions to the people assembled there.

“Everyone, please remain calm! Once all combat personnel have arrived, you will be divided into your own teams, each led by an instructor!” A series of beeps interrupted the man speaking as he continued, “Your student cards will show you where to meet with your team, head there at once as soon as possible.”

Before he even finished speaking, I felt my student card heat up near my clavicle, as it hung around my neck on my makeshift leather necklace. Taking it out let me see that my team was meeting in a nearby training ground, in sight of where I currently stood.

Once I reached the training ground, I was met by a stony-faced Teacher Passen, other professors, and a litany of nervous students that looked like new LARP-ers in their mismatched sets of armor. I recognized some students from my healing class and other teachers that were probably part of the healing department.

“Good, the last one’s arrived. Take whatever weapons and armor you need from the cache,” Teacher Passen said to me as he nodded to the side, where a large open shed filled with equipment was emptied out. There were numerous racks of different types of weapons on the left, and crates with every kind of piece of armor on the right. At that moment, I was grateful that I knew what I needed, as Sir Yalmaar had made us memorize how to properly wear a set of armor.

Taking into account what I knew of the battlefield, I would prioritize speed over defense, so I elected to wear leather armor rather than full plate. Helmet, chest protector, pauldrons, greaves, and vambraces all provided my body a decent amount of protection without having to sacrifice speed. Thankfully, there was no need for me to tie anything closed, as every armor piece had tiny pieces of metal sewn on the inside that were magnetized and stayed closed until sufficient force was used. The best sets were personalized with a blood magic spell that bound the armor to you and wouldn’t open unless you undid the enchantment, but of course those were too expensive.

As I secured my last vambrace, I turned to the rows of weapons laid out for me to choose from. Unfortunately, my decision here wouldn’t be as easy as my selection of armor was, and my time was quickly running out.

I had some experience with the shortsword, so I hesitantly grabbed one that was sheathed, pulling it out and checking the blade for any obvious signs of damage before affixing it to my waist as I continued perusing the other arms. A spear was the obvious choice for anyone untrained, which I did consider myself being, despite the six months of general combat classes I had taken. But it was likely that I wouldn’t have enough space around me to effectively wield a spear, so I discarded that as an option.

A bow and arrow would be ideal for me, as I could stay out of the fight and still contribute to it, but to my everlasting regret, I was a shitty archer. I knew some spells that could shoot projectiles, sure, but my dream of imitating a certain emerald-hooded bowman was shattered when I failed to hit a practice target even once, and that was after needing numerous attempts to even draw the bowstring far back enough.

“Hurry up kid! It’s not like you’re meeting with the king!” The unfamiliar voice berating me only added more pressure to my decision, as I looked through the various weapons. I grabbed the closest thing to me, a metallic mace whose head had concentric rings with serrated edges on it. I swung it around a few times to get used to the weight, and decided it was light enough for me to use. I held it firmly as I rejoined the group of students.

“Now that everyone’s ready, we can proceed.” The stranger who’d chided me glared in my direction before continuing, “You’re all part of the healing squad, so most of you will be hanging back and assisting the healers with their job, boiling water, fetching bandages, things like that. Some of you will be runners, carrying the wounded and dead out of the battlefield. Some of you will be guards, protecting the runners while they run back and forth. Ideally, each team of guards and runners would have an instructor or senior student for additional coverage, but there’s not enough bodies to go around as it is. If you’re lucky enough to have someone like that, thank the Mother. If not, you better hope nothing too bad happens to you out there.”

“Paso!” A professor yelled at him.

“What? They can handle it! Kids, if you really can’t take it and get too scared, you can run away. I mean, I don’t know if cowardice is part of the Commandments or not, but I think it should be.”

“Paso!” A third professor harshly shouted at him.

“Haa, fine! Kids, if you wanna run away from your duties and live to see tomorrow while being known as a coward for the rest of your life, step over here.” As he pointed to the side, waiting for anyone to accept his offer, a few students looked at each other, their expressions clearly showing that some of them were tempted to take the deal.

Before they could, Paso resumed his speech, “Good. Now that all of you have decided to stand with honor on the battlefield, we can move out. Remember, if you’re ever in doubt, you get your orders from your professors. The city guards are their own unit, same goes for the army. Let’s move out. Second-years with the elf, “ his comment drew a piercing glare from Teacher Passen that was entirely ignored, “Third-years with the midget, fourth-years with me.”

And just like that, I found myself headed towards my first school-sanctioned battlefield.