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Chapter 3 - My Sword

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Ouch. That was my first thought after regaining consciousness. I am now staring at the white ceiling above me, contemplating life. Well, actually, I probably would be if not for the distraction that is currently situated next to me on a small stool.

"If you have enough time to glare daggers at me, I'll assume you're ready to leave this place." Aroga said, not looking away from his iScroll as he... I don't know what he was looking at.

"Also, I ate that melon bread you had in your pocket. Didn't look like you were waking up any time soon and it would have been a shame to let it go to waste."

"What?! How c- ah!" The shock of pain in my neck as abruptly turned my head halted my words and I winced as I moved it back. "This sucks." I sighed.

"At least you're not the one that has to waste his time looking after a vegetable." Aroga replied, putting aside his iScroll.

"Well, it certainly looks like you're good enough to go with the way your two are bickering." A feminine voice spoke out from behind the white curtains that were promptly moved aside to reveal the school nurse, an auburn haired wolf. "Aroga, dear, could you help Ryker here sit up, please?"

Wordlessly, Aroga did as told and was surprisingly gentle as he slid his hand underneath my back and pushed me up. Hah, I must have suffered more than just physical damage if I'm using that word to describe him. The nurse, Ms. Lapis, donned her stethoscope and proceeded to do a check up on me.

"Deep breath. And out."

She repeated the process once more on my back before taking a ring shaped object off of my index finger. Huh. I didn't even notice it was there. I must be more out of it than I first thought. Come to think of it...

"What day is it?"

"It's Friday. You slept through the whole school week," Ms Lapis smiled as she proceeded to take a blood sample. "Most students wake up after a day or two, three at most, so you've broken the record! Whether it's a good thing that you missed a week's worth of lessons will be up to you to decide."

19th September, 3152 - Friday

I looked to Aroga on my left who had gone back to staring at something on his iScroll. Did he really care enough stay here the whole time? His eyes moved up to stare back into mine.

"If you're thinking that I stayed here the entire time, then you're horribly mistaken."

Nope. Charming. But still, to think I was asleep for that long... my breath must stink. I think I'll try and make a conscious effort to not speak until I get myself cleaned up, especially since I'm around two canines; you never know how much they can detect with their nose.

"Since you're awake now, you need to clean yourself up and get dressed," Aroga stated. "I need you to come down to the main training grounds once you're done."

"What for?" I asked as Aroga stood up.

"You haven't gotten a chance to use your weapon yet, right?"

And with that, he turned to leave the room. Just as he was about to push aside the curtain separating my bed from the rest, Ms. Lapis spoke up.

"You should come visit me more often, Wulfy. I get so bored without you around." She said, feigning sadness.

"You know I only ever come up here for diplomatic reasons." And with that, he left.

The nurse beside me sighed as she packed away her stethoscope. I was rather curious about what he meant by that. So I asked.

"What did he mean by that?"

Ms. Lapis looked at me. "Hm? You mean you don't know?" She asked, as if I asked the most stupid question of the century. Well, I probably did. "Due to a mutation that occurred in his blood whilst he underwent the blood transfusion process to bond with his weapon, he now has enhanced healing."

"So he's invincible?"

She giggled as she replied. "No, no, nothing that impressive. It's just that normal wounds heal extremely quickly, fatal wounds will still be fatal. His body is also far less susceptible to sickness and... well, just between you and I," she came closer and cupped a hand around her mouth. "His saliva has healing properties but he doesn't use it much on others 'cos it embarrasses him."

I nodded in understanding. "I see..."

"But even so, I wish he'd come up here just to visit me every once in a while! You won't believe what some of the students who come in are like, they're so obnoxious and... well, actually, I probably shouldn't delay you any further. I'll leave you alone now." She said as she went out the same way Aroga left. "Your clothes are in a bag under the bed and if you need anything else, feel free to call for me! I'll be in the staff room."

And just like that, I was alone again surrounded by while curtains and silence. I swiftly pulled the sheets back and hopped of the bed, standing up for the first time in a few days. Head rush hit me a bit but, luckily, being a tiger I was able to hold my balance a lot more easily. Looking down at myself, I noticed how I was wearing only my underwear which was a bit off putting. To think I had been speaking, well, arguing with Aroga while wearing next to nothing. Gah, how embarrassing! I covered my face in shame.

But what's done is done. I took a look under the bed and pulling out the aforementioned bag, opening to find that all of my clothes had been folded neatly with a small toothbrush and tiny bottle of toothpaste placed on top of the fabric.

It was not long before I decided that I looked presentable enough to venture back out to find Aroga. Walking back out into the main corridors, I began to think as I walked. I wonder how Elucia is doing. She must have been worried, considering I was out of it for a good few days.

~

It was a sunny day with a few white puffs of cloud dotting the blue sky and the sound of children playing could be heard. There were little canines and felines engaging in a game of tag, miniature vulpine and avian facing off in a game of football and some others casually chatting in swings or sandpits, while others use the slides and climbing obstacles as makeshift fortresses.

Sitting off in a corner of the lively playground was a tiger, a small one for his kind. He wore a forlorn look on his small face as he sat alone, away from all the action.

"Hey, what's your name?" A demanding voice suddenly piped up.

The tiger cub looked up and came face to face with a female husky pup, a white shirt and skirt covering her body with a small little clip to hold her hair back.

Looking back down, the tiger shied away from the husky. "Leave me alone..."

"That's rude. My mummy said it's rude to not introduce yourself to others."

"... isn't it rude to not tell your name first before asking someone theirs?"

"Shut up and tell me your name. Mine is Elucia Evericia."

The tiger tried turning away from the invasive husky, despite being in a corner and not really having anywhere to go. "Why do you care?"

"Because I want to be friends with you. I order you to be friends with me too."

"You can't do that."

"Well I just did," She proudly declared. "Now tell me your name!"

He reluctantly and quietly replied, "Ryker."

"Good. Now why are you always sitting here? It looks really boring."

"Because nobody likes me."

"Why?" Elucia asked, sitting down cross legged on the floor.

"They think I look weird because of my white stripes." Ryker said, becoming more upset.

"Why?"

Ryker looked up... or rather, down at her from where he was sitting. "What do you mean?" He sniffed.

"Why are they weird? I think they look cool." She replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm bored now, let's go play instead. Look, the sandpit is empty now!"

Elucia quickly stood up and rushed towards the sand, pulling Ryker along with her.

"Sit down! We need to build a castle with a garden!" Elucia enthusiastically stated as she started making what looked to be a tower.

"But I don't like sand..."

"Shut up, I order you to have fun!"

"But...!"

The tiger was quickly silenced by a slap to the head, to which he responded with a wave of tears and cries. Upon seeing the crying cub, a teacher came over and asked what was wrong, to which the tiger replied that he was having fun all the while bawling his eyes out.

~

Well, thinking back on that, maybe Elucia didn't seem like the nicest of people, but she really is caring once you get to know her. Now that I was fully dressed in my washed out grey jeans, boots and favourite white hoodie, I hurried to the meeting location where Aroga was surely waiting for me.

~

Or at least I thought he was waiting for me. It's been 10 minutes now and I'm still standing here alone, looking like an absolute idiot. In that time, multiple thoughts had gone through my head. Where is Aroga? Why am I the one who arrived first? I don't look too weird standing out here in the field, do I? How many people around the school can see me? Maybe if I move into the shadows a bit, I'll be less noticeable... but surely some will catch my movement in the corner of their eyes.

"Oh, you sure made it down fast. How eager of you."

I wanted to punch him in his pretty face so bad.

"I brought your weapon, catch"

Wait, wha-?! Swiftly turning around, my eyes quickly located the rectangular box flying towards my general direction. Judging by its current location and speed, it will arrive to me vertically on its flat surface in approximately 0.65 seconds, 1.72 metres above the ground with a slight tilt 28 degrees counter clockwise. The best course of action to take now would be to use both of my hands and catch it with a hand on both sides of the box, left hand first to straighten it up before taking it with my right. Taking a quick two step to the left, right foot first, I reached my arms out and caught the box perfectly.

"Whew, nice reflexes." Aroga whistled.

"Why did you throw that? No, before that, why are you late?! I thought you left first."

"Take out the blades and try them out for me."

He ignored me. Sighing in defeat, I placed the box down on the ground and opened it. Almost immediately, I felt a weird connection forming.

"You feel it?" Aroga asked, drinking his fruit smoothie from a straw. "If you do, it means the blood transfusion worked and you don't have to repeat it."

I shivered at the thought of having to go through that painful process again. That being said though, even if I've successfully "bonded" with these two swords, how am I even supposed to use them? My weapon mastery leaves much to be desired after all.

"Since you have that stupid look on your face, I'm thinking you have no clue about how to even use them."

Ignoring the insult, I looked up at Aroga, waiting for him to continue talking.

"Blade SS is a special weapon, as I'm sure you already know. It's the first of its kind and it operates on the theory of telekinesis. Do you know why we get an aura around us when we fight?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"The blood transfusion process we went under strengthens our body and allows us to access the full potential of our physical form. With all the energy being build up and exhausted, the body needs to release the same amount of energy as well, thus making our bodies give off an aura."

"What about the different colours?"

"The colour is influenced by the animal DNA that we have in our blood," Aroga stated. "The aura is only ever seen outlining your body. Reason being the further away your energy is from your body, the weaker it becomes thus it loses its colour. Any more questions?"

"Yeah. How do I use this?" I asked, pointing at the two blades in the box.

It was now Aroga's turn to sigh. "I was getting there. As I was saying, telekinesis is greatly involved when it comes to using the Blade SS. The aura that you give off will allow you to control and manipulate these two blades as long as they are within range, it acts as a sort of connection between you and the blades by allowing you to send information to the weapon," he explained. " Try activating your aura first."

"That's probably the most I've heard you talk since ever."

"Activate your aura."

"How do I do that?" I asked. It was a fair question in my eyes.

"Concentrate." Was the only answer I received.

Nevertheless, I did as instructed, though I was still rather clueless. Not knowing where to start, I closed my eyes and began to blank my mind. I clenched my fists and felt my muscles begin to tense throughout my body. I had started to hold my breath at some point but soon found myself gasping for breath as my heart sped up. Then everything seemed to go back to normal. Opening my eyes, I looked to Aroga, just waiting for his barrage of insults to come flying at me. But he only stared back, his mouth slightly open.

"Aroga?"

Seemingly snapping out of his dazed state, his eyes made contact with mine before he coughed once into his fist.

"Well done. Seems not even a dunce like you can fail to do something as simple as activating an aura." He said, still looking away.

What? I thought... looking down at my hands and feet, I was shocked to find a faint outline of white around my body. "But, I feel normal?"

"Of course you do. The accelerated heart, heat and adrenalin last for only a short moment to build up the energy, and then the body returns to normal and begins to slowly use up said energy. This would be a fatal process for most beings, especially if used recklessly, however our strengthened DNA and the blood transfusion fixes that," Aroga stated. "Now make those blades float in the air for starters."

Turning my gaze down to the two blades patiently sitting in the box, I concentrated and moved my hands out for extra effect. Not that I thought it would've done anything at all, I just thought that it might look more genuine. Surprisingly enough, one of the two blades shifted a bit before slowly rising up.

"Pick up the other one."

As I tried to do that, the one that I had successfully levitated immediately dropped.

"Man, you suck."

"Thanks."

"Again."

"What?"

"Try it over and over until you can get both of them in the air," Aroga instructed while waving his now empty cup of fruit smoothie at me. "I'm off to the cafeteria."

This was technically the third time I had been ditched today and it was barely the afternoon... actually.

"Wait, Aroga!" I hollered at his retreating form.

He turned around, not bothering to shout back.

"Get me one as well!"

I wasn't sure what possessed me to be so forward but my excuse was that since I was going to be stuck with Aroga for a while, I might as well get closer with him. He seemed pretty fine with it, judging by the weak hand wave I received in response.

Now then, I turned back to the matter at hand. Thinking logically, controlling these two blades should be like controlling my own two hands. Taking the blade that had dropped and the one still in the box, I placed them both down on the ground, apart from each other. Unsure of whether or not the whole holding-out-hands thing actually worked or not, I continued to concentrate with my arms stretched out with my hands each aiming at their respective blades.

It seemed to be easier to move them simultaneously, but each and every time I attempted to move them separately, they dropped. Despite imagining them as extensions of my own arms, it was apparent that learning how to use these blades was going to be no easy job.

Through the various attempts, I had concluded that though I tried to control them as if they were separate, my mind still controlled them as if they were one; I needed them to operate separately.

Just as I was about to make another attempt, the aura encasing my body suddenly dissipated and the blades that were halfway levitated dropped back down.

Aroga wasn't back yet either. I contemplated about activating my aura again but then that went and failed miserably. With nothing else to do, I sat down on the grassy area of the field, leaning against one of the cherry blossom trees. Unfortunately, there were still a good few months before these trees would be in bloom again.

Glancing down at the weapons I held in my hand, I sighed and closed my eyes, letting my head fall back against the trunk of the tree. This was nice. Right now, all I wanted to do was sit here under this tree and think about nothing as the gentle breeze blew through my fur and as the soft grass brushed against my tail. No need to think about training. No need to think about lectures. No need to think about people.

However, as I started to drift into a slumber, there was one thought that crept into my mind. That which rested in my lap and covered lovingly by my two hands. The Blade SS, my own personal, one of a kind weapon... my sword.