The Great

Aurora Maple: I woke up and immediately saw the bright white ceiling of the hospital room. I looked down at my arms and they were covered in bandages, and my lower body was covered in a light blue blanket. Evay was sitting next to me and he was asleep on the chair. He had a small box of kiwis wrapped in a little bow tie. I smiled softly at him as he was clutching the box of fruit like a child did with a doll.

How did he know I liked kiwis?

The bright blue sky outside gave a clear view of the campus grounds on a peaceful summer day. I looked at the admittance sheet and saw that he had signed in yesterday night. He had waited for me all day after the match yesterday…..I saw a little note card in his hand and I gently took it out of his grasp so as to not wake him up.

Hey Aurora. Thanks for giving me that pep talk before the match. I’m sorry I got you into extra trouble during the fight. Thanks for what you said about me. You were really great in the fights. You always are. You’re always there when I need you as well, so thank you.

—From: Evay

I smiled sweetly and looked into his sleeping face. He looked tired but peaceful and his resting face looked so pure. His soft brown hair rested nicely on his head and his gentle facial expressions as well as his dark brown eyes made me enamored with his gaze.

But the words he said stuck out. You’re always there when I need you.

Words I had never heard in all my life, things I’ve never done in regards to trust and friendship, feelings I’ve never felt were all thrown out the window with Evay. My heart began to beat a little faster and I felt my face get a little redder. I opened my eyes wide with shock and put my hands to my face. It’s just a letter….Lila would be laughing herself to death if she was here right now.

I thought about what she had always said to me. Love isn’t so simple. You have to find someone that you can work with, click with, and sometimes a good person may not always be that person. You’ve just got to wait, that’s all.

Her words echoed in my mind as I looked at the sleeping Evay. I got up from the bed with quite a struggle and took the box of kiwis from Evay’s hands. I sat down next to him and began to eat beside him. I took my blanket and laid it over him and smiled peacefully into his closed eyes.

For some reason the kiwis tasted sweeter than usual.

Geon Leventen: I woke up feeling a little light headed and tired. The couch in our dorm room was tilted at a weird angle, the table was filled with cups and spilled drinks, the walls were either covered with weird paint or dented, and the carpet was covered with dishes, clothes, and more cups.

I guess these are the downsides of a party…..

After we had won tons of people had come to celebrate with us. According to the upperclassmen it was apparently tradition to do this to congratulate the winners, and we were the ones being celebrated this year. Evay and Aurora were at the hospital wing so me and Lila were the only ones that had made it to the party but it was pretty fun.

This cleanup isn’t going to be fun though…..

I looked over at Lila–who was resting after cleaning out the kitchen. She wasn’t affected by the party as much as me and she seemed to be awake and happy. She walked over to me and leaned in with her hands on her hips—she had a devious smile on her face. “Looks like the ace can’t take a party to save his life,” she giggled a little and I gave her a small punch on the arm.

“Yeah, well I think that just means I’m a model student,” I gave her my best model student pose and Lila laughed.

“The guy that forgot his homework for history three weeks in a row is a model student.”

“Well……to be fair I never brought it in–I totally did it. It’s just lost somewhere.” She shook her head with a smile and talked in a soft voice.

“The strongest warrior of our generation and you can’t write a simple essay.” I giggled a little too and looked at the mess on the floor. I held out my hand and I willed the air to do my work for me. A breeze picked up the cups and plates and I funneled them all into the trash. Lila wiped up the last spills and messes, and we both sat on the couch together. Lila looked at me with a content face and talked.

“So, what's your first major Ace-warrior trophy looking like?” I stared down at my hands and smiled.

“They gave me a bar of gold with a star etched onto it so I could probably sell it to make money.” She laughed and stared at me with her big hazel eyes.

“I’m just glad we’re going to the tournament. I mean, we win there and we already have a shot at being picked as warriors.”

“Yeah but I kind of want to stay in school for a while. Most warriors stay for all their years and I kind of want to do it too.” She looked at me and spoke once again.

“Why? I thought that with your talent you would have left by your first year.” She looked slightly away from me while she spoke as worry crept over her face.

“Well……I like having……friends. And I think that being in a real environment is something that you won’t be able to experience much after you leave school so I want to enjoy it. I just…….want to be with you guys.”

I looked over at Lila–who was smiling softly. “Yeah that sounds nice.” The atmosphere was filled with too many feelings…..

“Hah, what? Were you afraid I’d leave you,” I remarked sarcastically and she looked taken by surprise.

“Huh? Wait what no….I mean yes…uh no! I mean, not like that….uh…” I felt a little surprised on the inside. Lila was usually very socially confident. She never stuttered, never backed away, was never shy, she never blushed, but she was blushing now. Her nervous little smile made my heart flutter a little and her puppy eyes made me feel even happier. She had always been beautiful, but I mean I’d never thought I’d see her like this. There were so many guys out there that wanted her. Older, richer, more confident, more mature…..

She gave me a long look. “I…I think you’re great Geon….I really do…..and…yeah I kind of want us to all stay together too.” She looked away and nervously combed her hair. “Especially you.”

I looked at her shy figure and all her features. Her curly soft hair, her smooth dark skin, her lush red lips, and her enticing eyes. I felt my heart beat and my body melt as I put my face closer to hers. She looked surprised at first but looked at me and did the same. I could feel her breath on my face and her warm eyes were so close to mine. I leaned in closer, and closer, and closer…..and…

I heard the door open and we both pulled our heads back at unimaginable speeds. We sat upright and tight with faces of extreme terror as we saw Evay and Aurora walk in. I saw Aurora with her arm around Evay to keep herself from falling as both of them were smiling happily at each other. I looked over at Lila who was smiling from ear to ear.

She gave my hand a slight squeeze before going off to help the two who had just entered.

“Geon, congratulations!” Evay came over and he gave me and tackled me in celebration. He sat down and I saw the two girls come over and sit around the table. It was Saturday and so we didn’t have much to do. I looked over at our dorm and saw the newspaper placed on the table. I looked at it and saw the advertisement for a shopping sale at the school student stores.

I grinned and pointed to the paper. “Well I guess I know what we’re doing today.”

Evay Maver: I looked over at both Geon and Lila and I smiled internally as I knew that something had happened between them. They were much more playful and natural around each other than before and I planned to pry the truth out of Geon later. But as for now we were shopping. I looked at a poster on the walls of a building and I saw a curfew posted with a warning on top of it. “Hey what’s that for?” I pointed towards the poster and Geon looked over at it while holding our four bags.

“Oh….yeah that kind of sucks. But I guess they really don’t want to take chances on him do they?” Aurora stopped eating her ice cream and also looked at the poster.

“Is he in this area again? My dad always used to be deathly scared of leaving me outside in our yard when he was.”

Lila also looked at the poster. “He’s still a problem huh?” We had all stopped and everyone seemed to know what this poster meant and who the guy in the poster was–everyone but me. I looked at them all in confusion.

“Who is that?” They all laughed a little but I didn’t. They slowly stopped laughing as they came to the realization that I wasn’t joking.

“Wait, you’re being serious?” Geon asked me and I nodded.

“Evay, where exactly did you grow up? You said the country right? I know the country is pretty different from inner Bondas but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone that doesn’t know about Teras.” I tried my best to keep an honest face.

“Oh yeah! I think I’ve heard of him, but my mom and dad never told me about him. They just always told me he was bad.” They seemed to believe me on this one and that made me a little uneasy. If that was so believable than whatever this guy did must be pretty evil.

Lila started to explain. “He’s a butcher. The greatest one to ever live. He’s never failed a job and he’s never missed a target. He’s quite open about being one, but no one dares challenge him. Butchers are strong but they never pass the major nobles. This guy…….well he actually killed one five years ago.” My memories started to circle back to me. I remembered that the people in my village were terrified of this one event that happened when I was a lot younger. My parents and village elders never really talked about it, but for some reason it felt like the world itself had changed when it did happen. Then I remembered.

“Wait…..noble Deymen.” All of them looked down at their feet and I could feel a sense of dread in the air.

Aurora spoke in a quiet voice, “It was the first time a major noble had fallen in two hundred and ninety years in any empire. His region was in shambles. A reject, a mercenary, a criminal suddenly became on par with a nobleman. He’s gotten stronger and well…..he’s strong enough that he hasn’t gotten caught.”

I looked at Aurora, “Wait, are you telling me that not even the nobles of today can catch him?” Everyone nodded. So the only guy that can match him…is the emperor? I looked up at the sky and my heart seemed to freeze in place as my mind wandered.

Well……it’s a big world after all…….

I shook myself out of my daydreaming trance as I looked at some of the magazines that were being sold.

One caught my eye.

I picked it up and it was a photo of our team on the cover of The Harold—the biggest news publisher in Taegan. “Guys we’re in the magazine.” All three of my friends turned their heads and stared over my shoulder with bright and happy eyes.

“Woah, the cover……I guess we’re famous now huh.”

Aurora talked in a slurred voice as she still had ice cream in her mouth, “I heard we were the last school to finalize our team so we got a lot of national attention.I guess that painting we had to pose for did have some meaning–they turned it into a cover.”

I laughed as I read the article about us. It listed all of our physical information and each of our statistics throughout the tournament. Geon, Lila, and Aurora all went off to get their own copy. I guess I can read this by myself for a bit.

I looked at the statistics and I wasn’t very surprised. Aurora was listed at 179 centimeters in height and 70 kilograms in weight. She had the most amount of opening strikes and striking opportunities created–she received a lot of praise from critics. Next was Geon who was practically showered with praises. I chuckled a little since they made Geon out to be some god even though I saw him attempt to use socks as oven mitts the other day. He was listed at 198 cm and weighed 84 kilograms. He was either second or first in almost every category, and had a golden badge next to his picture—the symbol for the Ace warrior, or the best individual warrior of the tournament.

Lila was listed at 176 centimeters and weighed 65 kilograms. She had crazy support statistics and was heavily talked about as she was the first healer present in recent memory.

Then I looked at my statistics and I was surprised at how good they were. My defensive statistics were ranked very high and my individual dueling skills had gone up by almost ten times the amount compared to the beginning of the year. I was listed at 170 centimeters and 68 kilograms as well. The critics were the most eye opening part as people were going berserk about my new transformation.

It was something that I couldn’t even describe…..My blueprint had a tendency to show its hidden potential every time I was in a tough situation. Just like a shield it always came in to protect me….But this wasn’t a shield or flight…..it was power. Power that felt raw, unchained, power that felt like roaring water crashing through the whole of my body. I felt like I was ascending, like I was going beyond what I could dream of……I felt like…..a god.

In every way. The world seemed to dull around me, and the very ground I was standing on seemed to struggle to keep its structure when I walked. The once pure and refreshing summer air seemed to turn to smoke as it irked my lungs. Then people…..it seemed as if they were nothing to me. A sudden emotion rushed through my heart and it was as if human beings were like garbage. I unwillingly laughed at the boy that stood before me……I had felt what it was like to be overwhelmed with power before but this was different. Now it was as if people didn’t matter to me anymore. They were below me, unworthy of my attention…

I didn’t want to be like this….but these feelings just….overwhelmed me.

I saw Aurora, Geon, and Lila gesture towards me and I walked with them back to our dorms as they congratulated me on my reports and we walked home. We reached the house and we crashed in for a good night's sleep. We had been out all day just buying and exploring, and we had returned with four huge bags of pretty much everything. As I laid on my bed I thought about the tournament. It was a big step but now we had our eyes on the real prize. I guess we just have to keep it up. I laid my eyes to rest and breathed a sigh of relief. At least our hard work has paid off for now…..