On the table was a wooden cube, half of its body being colored in the white moon light. She reached out and picked it up with her free hand.
"I wonder how Mr. Apollo is doing? I have a really bad feeling he is either doing something crazy or is about to." Marth could feel her lips curl up at the image of Apollo poorly fixing a situation he caused.
Marth shoulders slightly relaxed at that thought along with it a surge of power warmed her body. The energy flowed into the cube.
"Enforce."
She flicked the cube feeling that the already tough cube got tougher. She placed her hand over the cube again. As if god pressed the rewind button on the world, the mana flowed back from the cube although there was some difficulty Marth was able to pull enough mana out of the cube.
"It could be better but I feel like Mr. Apollo will be proud of me, although I could be better for him." The soft smile turned a wide one at what she's done. "It's been a week since he left for Minos."
Out of nowhere a slight rumble could be felt on the table. It was the alarm she sent.
"I guess it's time to go eat." Marth got out of the chair and left the room. The only thing of interest left in her room was the cube she just enforced. As the moonlight started the move, smoke could be seen coming off the cube.
Just like other nights the switching between the day and night shift teams feel rather seamless to Marth, only time she really notices the switch are for relatively lenient jobs like the cafeteria.
Marth upon reaching and seeing it mostly empty decided to get her normal midnight food, another bowl of soup. Soup, simple yet has the ability to bring out countless flavors from across the world. While Rhodes Island isn't some five star place when it comes to food, it has received its fair amount of praise from other operators, Apollo included. However, to her the food was tasteless, she wondered why that was.
"I'm glad some progress is being made."
Marth didn't turn to check who it was, she became quite familiar with it. "Hello Ms. Saria, what brings you here?"
"Some food before I call it a night. I can sleep in peace now." She remarked.
The two ate in relative silence with the occasional words spoken between the two. Saria ate her food as if it was a normal day, she could see Marth being rather fidgety and eating her food rather slow. She jotted down these actions in her mind.
"Ms. Saria, can I ask you a question?" Marth asked while she still looked down at her soup.
"Of course." She replied while she continued to eat her meal which consisted of a simple burger.
The digits on Marth's hands wiggled wildly, a similar thing was happening to her legs.
"I heard from some of the other operators that you are quite strong and reliable." Her eyes dashed back and forth as if she was looking at invisible floating screens. "Can you teach me about your arts? I heard it was to harden and weaken things, like that shield you normally have."
"Your treatment will come first. Along with that we will need Apollo's permission since similar to how Silence is the guardian of Ifrit, Apollo is your guardian."
"Only Silence? I thought you were also her guardian with how often she talks about you."
The sudden halting of Saria was quick but noticeable.
'I probably shouldn't have said that.' Marth thought.
"It's complicated, that's all I will say in that regard." Saria said as she finished her food. "It's time for me to retire for the night, remember you have another checkup tomorrow.. Goodnight Marth." Saria took care of her plate,
"I'm sorry." That was all Marth could utter.
"It's fine, it will take a lot more than that to throw me off. Goodnight Marth." With those words she left the cafeteria.
The Ark
Class was about to start, the larger monitor in front of the whiteboard was already drawn down. This has been the way the class has been for Marth and the other. 'Another day, another video.' Thoughts similar to this were permeated, all of them with varying degrees of interest. The children while they tried to be respectful to the lesson felt their attention span wine overtime. Skyfire and Marth were paying close attention to the lesson, taking notes and reviewing the books that Apollo left behind for extra studies while Angelina was somewhere in between.
"At this point I have been gone for about a week. So I'm giving you all today off. I myself hate sitting down so I say all of you take care of yourselves both physically and mentally."
A recording from Apollo was playing. He was in his normal getup of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, an outfit uncommon for either a teacher or an operator sent on combat related missions. The video went on for a little longer before turning off leaving a classroom with a free day. A thump could be heard in the back of the classroom.
"Mr. Apollo you're the best, I take back all the bad things I said about you."
It was Vigna with tears forming at the edge of her eyes. She was one of the students that struggled with the class, a fact that was clear to everyone even Skyfire who is normally deeply focused on the material at hand.
"If there is no class then I'll be heading to the library." Skyfire said this loud enough so only people near her could hear as she stood up and headed towards the door.
"Skyfire, I was wondering if you don't mind if I join you?"
"I don't mind. Just don't be loud. It's annoying trying to study when it's noisy."
Skyfire said this as she packed up her material.
The duo got what they needed and headed towards the library leaving Suzuran and Vigna on their own, but Marth was unable to see Angelina, who she knew came to class today.
The duo went right to studying when they arrived. Marth heads deep into her notes, trying to find ways to understand all the things they learned over this week.
"Ay! That's cold." The yelp that escaped Marth's mouth is something very out of the norm when she felt a sudden chill on her check. She turned around to see a cold soft drink held by Skyfire.
"Take a break. While I do respect the work discipline, you might be overdoing it." Skyfire explained as she placed the drink on the table.
"I'm not overdoing it." Marth replied feeling offended.
"Those eyebags are telling a better story." Skyfire responded assertively.
Skyfire sat down back in her seat across from Marth. She enjoyed her drink while reading her book. She studied intently, she even pulled out another book with the words 'Originium Mines' written on the cover.
The book caught Marth's eye. "Skyfire, what did you do before coming to Rhodes Island?" She asked.
Skyfire took a quick sip of her drink. "Isn't obvious, I was and still am a researcher. I mainly study geology, but I can dabble in other fields although not as well."
Skyfire's voice is laced with confidence but not arrogance.
"You sound like Mr. Apollo."
Skyfire rolled her eyes at the mention of his name. "Not sure how to take that. It feels as if he never takes anything serious, he seems floaty."
"Well I can't deny it that he isn't a very serious guy and kinda floaty, as if he wasn't tied down to Rhodes Island because of me he would be in a different country or maybe in another world." Marth said with some joy in her voice. "But both of you are serious when it comes to your studies."
Skyfire could only sigh. "His studies are the only thing I can respect about him."
Marth could only enjoy the praise Skyfire gave to Apollo, no matter how small. "What exactly do you like about what he's teaching us?"
"Most if not all ranges from somewhat practical to fully practical. Something that happens a lot in science fields are people, and this applies to those who understand fully or don't. They get too caught up in the theoretical and at times willingly ignore or downplay how impractical they are." Skyfire takes another sip.
"Such as?" Marth asked, wanting more.
"Take the ability to analyze that he taught us. The ability to scan an object on the go or to scan the area close to it is important in geology especially when we have studies in closed spaces. If people knew this then I can say for sure a lot less people would die from unknown variables. Also add the fact he is bringing in a whole new section of knowledge I haven't heard about. That certainly helps." As Skyfire talked as the excitement in her voice got more apparent.
"So you do respect Mr. Apollo." Marth said cheerfully.
"I never said I didn't respect, just that I don't like him. There is a difference, nothing not too common when in scientific or political fields. Either way I think you had enough of a break if you are smiling that much." Skyfire explained.
The duo went back to studying but something ringed in both Marth's heart and head at the last thing Skyfire said. She was smiling, widely in fact. A throbbing pain was flowing in her heart, then came a flood.
'Do I deserve to smile like I was? So many more people deserve to be happier, not just back home but also around the world. Why is the world letting a sarkaz like me be happy? To enjoy life when demons are meant to be put down? My purpose is to be put down for the betterment of the world, for a demon free world. That's why we are hated.'
The day turned to night in a blink of an eye when she studied with Skyfire. As the duo finished their study session and parted ways.
The Ark
"Ms. Saria, why did you join Rhodes Island?"
"That came out of nowhere. Why do you ask?" Saria replied as she wrote the results of the check up down.
"Just curious." Marth replied.
"To give a simple answer, I have a purpose. Just like all of us now or will in time. We all have some purpose to be here in Rhodes Island, for me it is for Ifrit to get the best treatment possible and Rhodes Island is known to care for those with oripathy." Saria didn't look up as she answered.
Marth was sitting in a chair, thinking about the words Saria said. 'A purpose. Skyfire seemed to have too, and Closure and everyone else.' Marth grew to realize that nearly one she met had a purpose of some sort, even the kids such as Suzuran, Vigna and Ifrit appeared to have one of some sort.
"Don't think too hard about it. You are still young and in a good environment, you even have someone like Apollo looking after you." Saria pointed out.
"Ms. Saria, what is your opinion on Mr. Apollo?"
"He appeared reliable, free flowy but strangely focused. I would often see him late into the night working on something, or talking with some of our casters on arts. I even saw him interact with Closure seriously." Saria explained. "You are free to leave, but if you wish to stay that's fine."
A bubbly current was forming in her heart, or was it fiery? Marth could tell which one it was, but for a moment something clicked as a deeply important memory played in her head.
It's cold, it's wet. My feet hurt, my body hurts, everything hurts. I don't know how long it's been since I snuck into Lungmen, the days and nights kept blending in with only the size of the void in my stomach giving any day some meaning. I could only grip the last of a dirty potato I managed to steal from someone. There were dark spots mixed in with the crimson red fingerprints.
"Did I kill him?" my legs gave out under me as I felt as I stared at the blood on my hands. "No, maybe he is just unconscious. One hit to the head with a rock from me won't kill anyone. They may have looked weak but I'm weaker there is no way."
There was whaling, and someone was crying nearby. It sounds like a child, and they're close. Where are they? I looked up to see a small puddle, in the reflection I saw myself. Even though the rain was causing countless ripples in the image, I could clearly see myself and the small dots of blood on my face and my ugly expression.
"Who am I kidding, I killed him. Even if it's me. The man looked weak and I hit him in the head with a rock, blood was flowing from his head. I didn't have second thoughts about doing it."
I ran my hands through the puddle not caring that it was dirty hoping that I would get the blood off my hands but it felt like no matter how hard I tried it felt as if I would never get the blood off.
"That's right, they were right. The blood never gets off my hands, because I'm a sarkaz, because I'm a devil. I deserve this."
I don't remember how but I arrived in front of one of Lungmen's police stations. The rumbling in my stomach didn't go away even after eating the potato. Does that mean that guy died for nothing? I looked at the steps to see a person. I couldn't make any details, my vision was blurry and the rain wasn't helping. He was just there, reading a book as if nothing else matters.
I didn't want to die, but I did deserve to live? I don't know... I don't know... I don't know. Before I knew it, I was in front of the man.
"Uh Sir?"
He looked up back at me. I saw his red eyes check me out, they stayed on my horns and legs for a moment. His white hair and slender frame came off the feeling of a normal person, but I couldn't see traits on him. No horns, tails or fur.
'He's probably gonna react like the rest.'
"What can I do for you little one?"
I looked back at the man to see not hate, not pity, but concern in his eyes.
"Do you have anything? Clothes, food, Anything please?"
The man waited for a moment before he started to strip his clothes and hand them to me, only leaving him in underwear and a white shirt.
I quickly put on the clothes causing the numbing cold I felt to subside little by little. Quickly afterwards I sat on the stair somewhat close to him to get out of the rain.
'Why is he being so kind to me? Could he be trying to kidnap me by lowering my guard. It wouldn't be the first time someone attempted it. He even gave me a bar of food that I couldn't read. Either way I'll just have to take my chances. My body feels terribly weak.'
The man didn't ask anything of me, he just sat there reading seemingly not caring that an infected sarkaz child was next to him, he wasn't afraid of me. I don't know why but suddenly my worries started to flow away a little, for a brief moment I didn't have to worry as much.
"Guess I'm already here. Must have been daydreaming too hard."
Marth stood in front of Kal'tsit office, she was quite sure that Kal'tsit is still awake, it is kinda like a legend to not see her awake. Marth entered to see who she wanted to talk to.
"Ms. Kal'tsit may I have a moment of your time?
The cat lady looked up.
"Of course, what is it that you need?"
Marth took a deep breath as she reconfirmed what she wanted to say. Something she believed took too long to ask. Marth stood off straight as she could, puffed out her chest trying to look as confident as possible.
"How do I become a combat operator?"