As I promised, since I couldn't upload a chapter last week, I had to upload two chapters this week So... here is chapter 3. It is a little bit longer than chapter 2, but... Enjoy yourselves!
I apologize by using the phrase "the young semi-elf" or "our young girl" too often, but Gea has never been properly introduced to Mashauri so, she is not supposed to call her by her name yet. I also apologize for giving you our Christmas Special so late, but I really had to work on it.
Happy New Year!
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Chapter 3: Welcome to Von Frederich University.
(Christmas Special Edition –Part one)
I got up a little late the next day. I really did not sleep well that night: I could not take that conversation I had had with my mother out of my head...
I left my house with a very strange feeling. Now I had got what I had always wanted: I was about to leave Ionescu, but I still did not feel satisfied... I was going to be too far away. If anything happened to my mother when I was not around I would never, ever forgive me. But I could not hold back, either. She wanted me to stay far away, as far away as I could, for my own safety and I was not going to worry her anymore. I had to do it.
As I walked to the town's inn to look for the others, I heard a strange noise behind a set of bushes. I got close to them, preparing to draw out one of my weapons, just in case, when I saw it was Timmy who was sneaking behind the bushes.
-Timmy? What are you doing here? Where are the others?
-Timmy doesn't know. Timmy hungry; looking for something to eat.
-Ok, whatever- I said. I was really not in the mood for whatever kind of conversation you can have with an orc, if you can really have one. -Can you please help me find the others? Maybe they are still at the inn.
We walked for a while, until we reached the inn. The others had already left their rooms and there was no sign of them around the inn, until we reached the lobby and...
-Good morning, miss. It is nice to see you again this morning- once again I felt that terrible shiver running down my spine as I heard Sianodell speak. –What brings you around here?
-I came to look for you- I said. –Where are the others?
-Well, I do not know- he said. –But I saw Árama and Achu a while ago. They were heading towards the church. Maybe we can still find them there.
When we reached the church, we found Árama and the young semi-elf at the door; they were about to leave. Árama was wearing a silver cross in a thin necklace.
-Good morning- said Árama. Then, she turned to Timmy. –Where have you been? I had been looking for you during the whole morning! Just thank that today I am not in the mood to hit you, because if I was...
-So... what do we do now?- asked the girl.
-The ferryboat does not leave for another ten minutes- Sianodell said (A/N: Ionescu is a small town located in a little island and our characters have to travel a long way to get to the island where the campus they are heading to is located). –So, I guess we shall have to wait and try to find the others.
We remained in the church's square until it was time to leave. We did not get any sign from the rest of the party so, we had to leave without them. We could not lose any time... That ferryboat was the only chance we had to leave and reach Von Frederich University before the registration day.
We traveled along the ship's deck, watching everything we had ahead us and what we had just left behind... The ship was full of people, everyone heading to the great cities on the other side of the sea. Suddenly, we noticed this strange red-haired elf clad in blue heading toward us. He stopped right in front of Árama.
-Hello, beautiful- he told her. –I was just wondering if you would like to have a drink with me.
-What for?- she asked.
-Well, so we can get to know each other, become good friends, I mean, do not get me wrong.
-Ok.
-Great- he said. But as he said that, this pink-haired girl appeared right behind him, took him by the arm and dragged him away from us as she scolded him:
-Where have you been? We have been looking everywhere for you! You should stop the "Zopilagarteo" and concentrate on what we came here to do!
-Bye! It was nice to meet you!- we heard him yell as they both disappeared around a corner.
The rest of the trip until we reached the port was fortunately calm.
A little town awaited for us. There, we got things we thought we would need. Sianodell bought another sword, a little bit shorter than the one he always carried, Árama got a whip and Timmy got a trident, a net and a tanglefoot bag. As for myself, I just bought a pair of tanglefoot bags and a couple of small bottles with acid (they might turn up handy at any time). The young semi-elf decided not to buy anything.
A while later, we took the bus that would take us to the closest city, where we would spend the night... Wow! That city was the most marvelous thing I had ever seen in my whole life. I had never been to a place like that one before... So full of mysteries, magic and high technology, a real mixture of the best things planet Earth and planet House had before the fusion, like the people that passed by Ionescu had described it to me!
The first thing we did when we got there was to go shopping (Árama's idea) while Sianodell went to look for a place for us to stay that night. Árama bought lots of stuff. She went out of every shop with at least one bag, and she also got a new haircut. Timmy got himself a gabardine, a hat and a pair of sunglasses (you should see him! He looked really funny in that outfit). I tried to buy something that would make me fit in the place I was going to live in and got a pair of jeans, a pair of blouses and a pair of tennis shoes. Again, the young girl decided not to buy anything.
When Sianodell finally found us, we headed to the inn where he said we were going to stay at. It was a really nice one (at least he had a good taste to pick the places where we could stay) and they were having a party that night! Free bar all night long! It would be nice... A calm night in a party, no weapons, no horrible creatures to fight...
Well... Not that nice. As soon as we entered, this drunk guy fell upon me. Fortunately, I could take him off easily. But, somewhere on the other side of the bar, three guys were bothering the pink-haired girl we met that morning. Árama said she would not like that if it had happened to her, so she went to help the girl with the small dagger she had hidden and soon, we were all immerse in a huge bar-fight: People all around us hitting each other for no apparent reason...
But that would not last for long, either. The guys that were in charge of the security that night got everything under control in a few minutes, after which we decided to leave.
-Are you alright?- Árama asked the girl she had tried to help.
-Of course- she answered. –That always happens to me when I am around. That is the effect a beautiful girl like me can cause upon men.
I did not like that comment at all. What was her problem? Árama had just saved her from three guys she could not have got off her on her own and that was the answer she gave!
Anyway, another red-haired guy appeared behind her.
-Well, thank you for your help- he told us. –We would like to meet all of you tomorrow at 10 o'clock at the Sabana, the park that is a few meters away from here...
°°° (Next day, 10:00 am at the Sabana)
-We have been expecting you- said the guy that had arranged our meeting. –We are a group of Sentai Members and we want to defy you to a one-and-one fight.
We accepted their challenge. It would not be that hard, would it?
They were exactly five: one for each one of us. Árama would fight against the same guy we had met at the ferry. Timmy would face that weird, delicate-looking guy (at a start we did not quite know if he was a guy or a girl). Our young girl would combat against the youngest member of their group (or at least he seemed to be), a really small boy with a somewhat greenish-colored skin and red eyes (I still do not know how she thought that was cute). Sianodell began to fight with the guy that seemed to be the group's leader. So... guess who I had to fight against?
-Let's begin- she said. She carried a large compound bow like mine so, I decided to make a fair fight, fighting against her with exactly the same weapon... The strongest one would keep standing after the battle.
Not even thinking about it twice, I began the attack, hitting her with one of my arrows. The others had also begun the attack, but without any positive results... Árama had been wounded, while Sianodell and the guy he was fighting kept a very tough fight.
Now it was their turn to attack us, but they did not turn out lucky... Well, at least most of them, since the pink-haired girl got to hit me with one of her arrows, but she paid for it, because my next attack knocked her out completely.
I could not believe it! "How could it turn out so easy?" I thought, as I saw the young semi-elf knock out the guy she was fighting against.
Anyway, we decided to help the others, specially Árama, who was deeply wounded, but we did not get lucky enough... I ended damaging her much more than she was.
When Timmy ended up the guy he had been fighting, he tried to help us but...
-That is enough!- said their leader. –You are terribly pathetic!-he scolded his teammates, that were just beginning to recover. –Let's go!
-I am not going to lose against you again- said the pink-haired girl, as they went away. –I am cuter than you and the cute ones like me always win... You'll see!
What could I say against that little pathetic display of immaturity? Absolutely nothing, everything I could do was to laugh at it...
°°°
After other 40 minutes on that city, another bus trip and another ferryboat trip, on December the 21st we finally reached the island we were heading to... Von Frederich University, Elizabeth campus.
-Welcome to Elizabeth campus!- a guy greeted us as we went down the ferryboat. –Here you go...-he handed each of us a pamphlet. –There is a map of the campus and some information on the careers we offer. The University has also prepared a Vocational Fair in case you still have doubts on what to study... We also have politics about the possession of wild animals- he said, as he looked at Árama's wolf and the small dragon that Timmy bought in one of the cities we passed by on our way there. –You have two options: Or you buy them a leash and make sure that your animals are appropriately tied up so they will not affect the people around you, or you leave them at the Wildlife Research Area, where they will be fed, looked after, and kept in habitats similar to the ones they are used to live in... And you can visit them whenever you want- both of them accepted this last option and sent their animals to the Wildlife Research Area.
-There is something else- said Sianodell before we started walking to the building where the Vocational Fair was taking place. –Someone is out of place here... She is not supposed to be here yet. Are you, Achu?
-Leave me alone! And do not call me Achu!
-The High-School building is a couple of blocks away from here. When we are done here, I will take you there.
It took us just one minute to reach the building. It was full of stands showing the different careers the University offered... There was a lot of people around, very special people, I could sense.
What to study? That was a hard question to answer. I seemed to be the only one who had not decided yet... Árama seemed pretty convinced that Natural Arcane Arts was just perfect for her and Sianodell... well, he must have had something in mind...
I looked at each one of the careers in the list that guy had given us: Not interesting, not interesting, not interesting... That was really going to be a tough choice! But... I finally got an idea. Now that I think about it, it sounds really naive, innocent. Anyway, I have to think in my future as a firecaster and the best way to become one fast, at least at that time, was to study Magic and specialize in the Fire Domain.
With that idea in mind, I walked toward the Magic stand in the fair.
I felt a little uncomfortable as I approached the stand. That man dressed in black clothes, with long black hair and a pair of deep black eyes that stood behind the stand kept looking at me as I drew nearer. He seemed to be trying to get to the depths of my soul just by looking at me... But that would not stop me.
-How may I help you, miss?- he asked, giving me a terrible look (just like the one my mother gave Aust when we reached the house a few days ago).
-I just wanted to know what this University may offer me if I decide to study Magic.
-Well, we offer the usual stuff. Some Physics basis, since you need to know what you are going to control before doing it. We also train you on the usage of seven of the eight Arcane Magic schools (Necromancy is out of our bounds. This institution does not instruct in anything that has to do with the dark arts)-he said, not taking his eyes away from me. I did not know for how long I was going to stand the way he looked at me. –And, you may choose to specialize yourself in one Domain, but to do that you must show me that you have finished your magic career.
-Ok... And what can you tell me about the specialization in the Fire Domain?
-A very interesting element, fire... But also a tricky and difficult one to handle. Not everyone who tries to handle the specialization in fire finishes it... Too hard for them- he said. –I direct the specialization in the Fire Domain, having served the Fire Circle for many years... until I decided to leave it.
-Well, thank you- I said and went away as soon as he finished talking. I had to find the others so we could keep on our way. It was getting late and we still had to find our dorms.
°°°
-These are the girls' dormitories- said the guy that had been leading us around the campus. –The guys' dorms are on the west wing. There are also some rules around here: It is forbidden to play music at a high volume after 10 pm. There is also a rule about sexual pursuit, but no one pays much attention to it around here... May I have your names, please?
Árama and I gave him our names and he checked out for them on a list he carried.
-You are lucky- he said as he guided us upstairs to the third floor. –You were assigned to the same room- he opened the room's door and we entered it: it was a big dormitory, big enough for three beds, a desk, three bedside tables, a great closet and the bathroom. –Your other roommate will be arriving tomorrow- then, he went away with Sianodell and Timmy.
°°°
The next morning we got up a little bit earlier than we did the day before and went to take a walk around the campus before the registration began. We had just stopped in front of a great building when a great vehicle (a limousine I think it is called...) stopped right in front of where we stood...
A very elegant human man came out of the vehicle, followed by several tall, hefty men (his bodyguards, apparently) and a young woman, dressed in black with black eyes and black, straight, short hair.
-Good morning- the man told us as they all stopped in front of us.
-Hi!- yelled the young semi-elf as soon as she saw him. Did she really know him? Or was she doing it because it was her nature? I mean, in the time I had been around her, there had not been a man, no matter young, old, thin, fat, ugly or not that she had not treated or at least thought of as the "cutest guy you could ever see".
-New students, I assume- he said, looking at the rest of us. –Welcome to Von Frederich University, Elizabeth campus. My name is Ian Strauss.
-Nice to meet you, sir.
-If you excuse me, they are expecting me for this year's opening speech- he said as he started walking inside the building. –I hope to see you there.
We decided to enter the building to listen to the speech. The room was already full of people, so we had to remain standing at the back of the room... It was a short, concise, but nice speech... only interrupted by Timmy's sudden appearance on the stand, right behind Mr. Strauss (I could not understand how he did that, if a second before he was standing beside Árama), whose bodyguards could have killed Timmy if he had not disappeared from the stand and appeared right beside Árama again... She had never been so embarrassed in her whole life.
Right after the speech, it was time for us to register. I had already made my perfect schedule, with all the subjects I wanted to take that term perfectly placed in order to have some spare time (maybe a day off) and not very hard days... Everything balanced.
Anyway, things did not turn out the way I expected...
-You had not taken into account your sports activity, miss, had you?- asked the man I had met at the Magic stand the day before (he turned out to be the one who had to approve or reject the subjects I wanted to take). –Everyone has to take it on first year- he said again, giving me one of his killer looks as he looked for some paper upon the table. –Let's see... Rugby, Basketball, Baseball, Football, those are the only ones that are not full yet. It is up to you.
-I will pick baseball, then.
-Well, miss, let me tell you that it will be hard, if not impossible, to get everything you have asked for at the times you have asked for- he said, taking all the papers away in a bad manner. –Ok, that is all. You will have your results soon.
I did not leave in a good mood. What was his problem with me? Everything he had done since I met him was to treat me like the worst scum he had seen in his whole life... The way he looked at me, the way he talked to me... I could not stand that man!
When I walked back to the building where my room was located, I heard Árama calling out for me:
-Hey, Gea! There is going to be a Christmas dinner tonight at the campus' dinning room- she said. –Let's go. It will be fun. Yes?
-Ok, count me in- I told her, and soon I remembered... –By the way, I need to talk to you.
-Are you heading up to the dorm now? It will be better for us to talk there.
We walked to our room and, when we opened the door, we saw the girl we had just seen that morning (the one that accompanied Mr. Strauss) sitting on the bed that had been empty the night before.
-Ah... Hello- she said as soon as she saw us entering the room. –I am your new roommate. My name is Vanessa.
-Nice name- said Árama. –I am Árama and this is Gea. So, what are you going to study, Vanessa?
-I came here to study Magic- she answered.
-I am in Natural Arcane Arts- said Árama.
-I am going to study Magic, too- I said. –I want to get a specialization in the Fire Domain.
-I am going to trust you something, but you should not tell anybody- Vanessa said. –I actually study the Dark Arts, but as those subjects are not given in this school, I am taking them elsewhere. Now, if you tell anyone, I will have to curse you.
-Ok, no problem- said Árama (sometimes she talks for us both...). –But under one condition... Teach us something. You learn and then you teach us something of what you have learned.
-You know the Dark Arts are very dangerous. But, yeah, maybe I can teach you some small things...
-Thank you. Now, if you excuse us, I have something to talk about with Gea...
-Ok, no problem- she said, as she entered the bathroom.
-What was that thing you wanted to tell me, Gea?- Árama asked as soon as Vanessa left us alone.
-I just wanted to know what did my mom and you talked about when we were in my house...
-Well, you see... I asked her about why I looked different from other elves, and she told me something about what my family could have been like and where to find the other dark elves so that maybe there I could find out something about my family... She also told me that your father is a dark elf, is that true?
-Unfortunately...- was everything that I could answer before there was a knock on the door and the guy at the door handed me a letter... a letter from my mother.
Dear Gea:
My best wishes for you and your friends for this Christmas.
I just wrote to make you know that I am moving away from Ionescu... I got a job in the city and I bought a little apartment here. Now that we are a little bit closer, I hope you can visit me for New Year.
Take care.
As soon as I finished reading, we heard a terrible scream and a howl coming from the bathroom. The door burst open as Timmy fell onto the room's floor, followed by a terribly angry Vanessa.
-What are you waiting for? Kill that thing!- she said. –It is already blind and deaf because of the spell I put on it.
-No- Árama interrupted. –Do not do anything to him. He is our friend.
-Well, next time tell your friend not to appear that way inside a girls' bathroom! I was changing clothes!
As soon as she said that, Timmy disappeared in the same way he did during the speech (maybe the same way in which he had just appeared inside our bathroom).
°°° (A few hours later: dinner time)
The dinning room was full of people when we got there. It had been magnificently decorated with a series of magical items that provided lights and Christmas colors all around the room... Though it was full, we could find a table where all of us could sit together.
-Excuse me, Aramir- asked Árama, after he finished the "gentleman theater" gently pushing my chair toward the table. -Can you please tell me why are you so... kind to our friend Gea?
-Yeah, I was wondering the same- said the young semi-elf (High-School students had also been invited to that night's dinner).
-Well, that is none of your concern, ACHU.
-Stop calling me that way!- she began. –Gea, please tell him to stop bothering me!
-Why me?
-Because he always pays attention to you...
-That is not true! See?- I told her, when he called her "Achu" for the last time. –He can stop on his own... if you just stop paying attention to him. By the way, Sianodell, I have been considering your proposal and... I have decided to accept it.
You may be wondering why I had decided to accept... Well, I had something in mind... Maybe spending more time with him could reveal me that part of him that I could not understand but made me dislike him so much... I knew he had something in mind... He was up to something, too.
-Really? Well, I train twice a day. A couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours at night, just tell me which of them suits you well.
-I still do not know. I shall have to wait for my schedule, since I am no longer sure that I am going to get it the way I wanted it.
Suddenly, all the lights went off. A general rumor filled the place and we heard a clinging noise under our table.
Ignoring Sianodell's "I did not hear anything. Let's stop worrying for things that are not important"; we searched for what could have made that sound... and our young semi-elf found it out in a very painful way: she stepped on a set of thistles that had been thrown there... But there was no time to figure out where they came from, since the sound of people screaming filled the room next.
-The University is under attack! We want all the students to go back to their rooms or find a safe place while we take care of what is going on!
We tried to do as we were told. We began to walk out by the emergency exits and were stopped by a tiny ice nefit, who was almost immediately defeated by the girl's sword.
-I can feel something wrong is going to happen in the gym- she said.
The gym? Many students have headed that way after the attack was announced! We could not just go away and leave them there, if something wrong was really going to happen there!
We walked around the gym, looking for a sign of something wrong that could happen there and, when we reached the back of the gym, we found a devil trying to free himself from the net he had been trapped in (the net Timmy had bought the day before).
It did not take long for the devil to free himself and when he did, the battle turned much worse than the one we had had with the bugbears... It seemed like Sianodell's attacks were the only ones that were really causing some damage and, once in a while, one of Timmy's or Árama's attacks (I am sorry to say I am not very good in the battlefield, and the spells I can make are not very useful in this situations).
After attacking Sianodell with a strange kind of poisonous smoke that came out of its tail, the devil spread its wings and took off, making it harder for us to attack, specially the ones whose only weapons were swords and could not cast spells on them the way Sianodell did (actually, I think that is why our young girl tried to run away). Suddenly, Timmy disappeared and appeared back, mounting on top of the devil's back, smashing it against the ground, but it was not enough yet... The devil took off again, this time taking the young girl with him.
Now it was much more difficult to attack. How were we going to attack that thing without harming the girl? That's when Árama got a brilliant idea: she made an Entanglement spell to stop the devil, but she failed... Timmy and I did not have much luck either using our tanglefoot bags (actually, I entangled Sianodell by accident – "great, isn't it?"- notice the irony. –"I entangled the only one who was inflicting a real damage upon that thing"). Anyway, the young semi-elf got to free herself on her own; she hit the devil so hard that it had to let her go...
The next time we attacked, we had a plan, Sianodell would charm his sword once again and Árama and I would attack the devil together, using our bow and crossbow, so we could corner it against the tree where Timmy was waiting to fall on top of it again. But we did not have good luck either... Though we got to hit it, it was not enough to keep it against the tree, so our plan failed (it was not close enough for Timmy to get it properly). It tried to catch the young semi-elf again, but she got away, so it attacked Árama, causing her a hemorrhage.
While he tried to disentangle himself, Sianodell got another plan... A plan that left him and Timmy heavily wounded, since it did not work either. So, while Timmy went away from the battlefield to cure himself and Árama helped to cure Sianodell's wounds (A/N: by that time, Sianodell had already disentangled himself), we planned one last combined attack. If it did not work, nothing else would...
The devil began to draw closer. Árama and I were already waiting for it; bow and crossbow ready... But this time we were just a diversion... Sianodell was the one who was really trying to attack.
Árama and I attacked together and then, our shoulders served as Sianodell's thrust to jump on top of the devil, where he stabbed it with his sword. As it fell to the ground, the devil kicked Sianodell off it, knocking him out. But it was not dead yet. It got up and started to walk away, when one of Árama's arrows pierced one of its open wounds and it fell dead immediately.
Finally, it was all over. But something was not right (at least for me): I watched in horror as Árama suddenly began to change... Her skin became darker and darker, until it took that grayish color I hated so much and her blond hair became lighter, until it turned totally white. The change I feared the most had taken place right before my eyes.
Feeling weary and tired, we slowly began to walk toward the dorms. Maybe a good rest could cure the wounds we had got. Anyway, I still got that terrible feeling that we had forgotten something...
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Author's Notes:
Zopilagarto: Envolves the words lagarto (small type of crocodile), that we use here in Costa Rica (I think it is also used in other Latin-American countries) to refer to a guy that's always flirting every girl that appears before his eyes, and zopilote (buzzard). So, a zopilagarto is this guy who flirts every girl that appears before his eyes and follows her like a buzzard does before they fly down to get their food.
Sentai Members: They usually fight as a team (like the Power Rangers, VR Troopers and other similar ones...) and their greatest strength comes from what they can do as a group more than what they do on their own. Their individual abilities are always used for the group's purposes.
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Well, that's all for today. I hope you liked it.
I also apologize if Gea is not a master for combat, I don't know what's up with my dice throwing, they always get low scores uu. And I've tried with a thousand of them!
What was that thing we forgot? If you haven't figured it out yet, you shall have to wait 'til chapter 4: What else could one expect on a Christmas night? (Christmas Special Edition Part Two) is up.
I also want to say: if Gea's relationship with this teacher sounds a little bit like something you know, IT IS NOT MY FAULT. I did not create that guy, so...
Ok. It is really over now. Don't forget to send a nice review. Please make me happy.
Bye.
Ruby.
P.S: Just in case you were wondering... The thistle attack in the dinning room... It was Sianodell who threw them under Mashauri's chair on purpose.