The morning combat practice went the same as the day before. but with an additional lap. Sagiri was the last to finish, just like on the previous day. serving was done by the time he got to the dining wing. He was breathless, and it was a little disheartening to think that he would have to go another few hours without food. He turned around like the previous day to leave, but N'varu appeared beside him again.
"You can distrust me all you want, but you, of all people, need food," he started his tone flat as if he was talking to a child and they were not the same age. "Depending on him to heal you does not come without a price. Maybe you should look at yourself in the mirror," he said before leaving.
"I don't need you to get punished for my sake," Sagiri said when N'varu turned around to leave. He never demanded such a sacrifice. Whoever N'varu thought he was, he was not worth all the trouble.
"It is just a small price to pay compared to what they all lost," N'varu said. The same sadness and pain from leaking off of him when he experienced deep emotions hit Sagiri in the gut, leaving him breathless.
"Why can't you just talk to me directly about what you want to say. I can not understand the meaning behind your words," Sagiri asked. N'varu was as tight-lipped as Kiuga had said. Nothing had changed in his life to show that N'varu had aired what he saw in the healing wing.
"You already know everything. What can I tell you that you don't know?" N'varu answered, leaving Sagiri just as confused as before. Now that N'varu had mentioned his weight, he could finally look at himself more thoroughly. At first, he had thought that it was because of the intensive training schedule at Galka War Academy, and because he missed the majority of breakfast because he couldn't make it in time.
Maybe he had been turning a blind eye to what had been really happening to him. After he woke up the day he collapsed at the pillar and shadow arena, he had lost a lot of weight, but he did not think much of it. Let's say N'varu Neni is right, could the power inside of me be a separate entity on itself that feeds on me to survive like a parasite? he questioned himself. And what happens if I waste away, lose control over myself, and become a puppet? thinking about how the archive had absorbed a whole book while he passed out made him uneasy. He may have been the weakest student at Galka physically at the moment, but he, more than anything, hated being at the mercy of anything or anyone. that needed to change.
He moved towards the plate of servings N'varu left for him and gulped it down quickly. Time was running out for his thinning body and for the approaching assembly time. He was the last to arrive at the central Pentagon assembly area. He fixed himself in his frequent spot, at the back of the fourth-year line.
"Hey, newbie, are they bullying you? you look thin," someone said beside his ear. He turned around quickly. It was Daziko, the third year, and he was way out of line from the third year clear starting line. "You know, Galka War Academy, no matter how brutal in its ways of teaching, it punishes bullying severely," he continued.
"Cadets order!" an instructor said, suddenly forcing Daziko to jump back and get into a respectful stance. So N'varu had been right about him losing a lot of weight. He was feeling energetic with no side effects after consuming the breakfast n'varu served for him. It was not poison that was for sure. Unless it was a long-term working poison. He shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts. being paranoid was the worst place someone would be. careful was good, but there was a thin line between being careful and being paranoid. The power within him had not marked him as an enemy, and it had never lied to him, so he let it go.
The drill at the assembly was as usual, except for Principal Zazami's speech when it was his time to address the cadets.
"Dear cadets, as you know, we just graduated our recruits to cadets. Our school, as of now, has 999 recruits who are on their journey to becoming the best assets for the state of Tagayia. For those in the final year, you know we have time to waste, and as you are the closest to joining the warrior's rank, we need to train you mentally and physically and prepare you for real-life situations after graduation. That sadly can not happen with just training in the inner Pentagon. That is why I have invited visitors to sharpen your skills in Combat in two weeks. Prepare yourself in all subjects so as not to embarrass me."
In two more weeks, Sagiri could have been able to finish all the school work from the first year to the third year that required reading. His combat skills were still very lacking, and the announcement had him calculating. The power inside him was using his body to fuel itself, and he needed to rectify that. He should have heeded Captain Salka's words from the start to eat more, not just the entity inside him, but even the physical. Even N'varu was right, he could not afford to lose any more weight.
After the weapon dance display, he wondered if it could be one of the requirements. He had not studied weaponry, which cut across all levels from the first year to the fourth year. The first and second years were just introductions and basics, and he had already understood a lot from weapon handling.
Sagiri sat in the third-year library when it was time for his compressed personal study lesson. He was eager to learn about weaponry. Learning about the bow and arrow had been an accident. He had tried on his own once to reenact the move, but he could not. The weaponry volume lay open in front of him. Thick pages. No decoration. Just diagrams and short blocks of text.
The chapter began with distance. Weapons were divided by reach. Short, medium, long. The first chapter was about the dagger. It is a whole unit by itself. He read about short weapons first. Daggers and concealed blades. They required closing in. No retreat once committed. The text marked targets without explanation: throat, spine, kidneys, inner thigh. The diagrams showed bodies collapsing, not bleeding. He had already learned about most of it practically from senior instructor Bekuro, who, for his special circumstance, had forgone the theoretical part and went directly to the
Sagiri paused. His hands rested flat on the table. He was more curious about the swords and spears, and so he skipped the pages and jumped to the Medium weapons section. Swords and short spears. Control over space. The book emphasized angles and positioning. Strength was irrelevant. A still blade could dominate if placed correctly. Most losses came from impatience.
He turned the pages, wanting to learn as quickly as possible. Long weapons. Spears, polearms, bows. Meant for distance and formation. Alone, they failed. Supported, they decided battles. Terrain mattered more than skill. A long weapon without space behind it was already lost. The last section was brief before it opened into another topic called Transition.
It involved explanations on when to drop a weapon, when to shorten the distance, and when to fight barehanded. reading did not interest him much after what he experienced with the bow and arrow. It was as if the experience had made him want to connect with history in such a deep way. The books now seemed shallow to him, and he found them vague and disappointing.
He reached for the next volume still on weaponry, but it sounded the same to him. Nothing was able to scratch his mind. What was explained in the books seemed like just one point of looking at the weapons, when they were more deep and complex. He opened the first page on bow and arrow, which is the first choice for long range. It was easy to use and fast. The founder of the bow and arrow was written to be the hunter wife of the first man to settle in Tagayia.
"Ridiculous!" He snapped, shaking his head and shutting the book with a thud.
"Silence in the library, recruit!" a supervising junior instructor said, his nose turned to the air. He apologized silently with the slight bow of his head. But it was absolutely unbelievable. He had thought that reading a lot and reading all the books to ever exist could maybe answer his questions about who he was, but after finding out how badly the books missed the points, he was gravely disappointed.
He was still gloomy when he walked to lunch. He lifted his finger to sign four servings. He sat alone at a corner, deeply lost in his thoughts. His gloomy thoughts were, however, distracted when the last to face he wanted to see slipped into the seat opposite him. They held the same unsettling grin they always held, but even that could not hide from him the vengeful feelings that reeked off of them. He could almost hear their desires screaming above their feelings. 'We hate you!'
They were distracting his peaceful thoughts with their suffocating hate, and he wanted to move away. Their hate for everyone, and more so him in the moment, was thick that he could almost touch it. he had learned to ignore people's feelings until it was necessary to address him. They were neither his foes nor friends, so he kept eating eyes low.
'Enemy,' The power within him stirred. It had been a while since it reacted so violently to someone. It did not even react to Kaka, the hostile king Bami of Galka War Academy, yet it reacted to the two creepy lookalikes in front of him.
"Ash gray sash," they said at the same time, and it was unsettling to hear. "It seems you are enjoying your food too much to pay us any attention." One continued with a voice so robotic it sounded rehearsed with no emotion behind it. That could have had anyone believing they did not mean any harm, but he could perceive their feelings toward him louder than their fake voices.
"The food at Galka War Academy is pleasant," he answered after chewing for a moment, wondering why they were sitting in front of him if they hated him that much.
"You have been in this academy for only two weeks, but you have soiled our plans," they said in unison, and if Sagiri was to get scared, he could have screamed at how creepy that was. He, however, had never been overwhelmed by any feelings since he was born. He understood feelings and felt them, but as a secondary reaction. "My brother does not like that," they spoke again," No wonder the Tamelku clan hated twins. They were seriously uncanny.
"A coincidence." He answered, chewing on a vegetable. The marks under his skin changed patterns dormantly, and the power within him stirred. It wanted to protect him, or its vessel, according to what N'varu had said.
"We should avoid more coincidences then, ash gray, what do you think?" one of them spoke. Sagiri could not even tell them apart, even if he tried.
"I do not have power over that," Sagiri answered them, scooping another spoonful of food.
"Are you mocking us, Ash Gray?" the other asked, still grinning, their hateful feelings growing to immensurable lengths. The power within him stirred in response, and he hated that their hate kept growing. This time, accompanied by some excitement. excitement for revenge, as if they were going to torture him, and he just gave them an excuse. His line of thinking had now been ruined completely, and all he wanted to do was sit alone and think.
"I thought the Tamelku duo did not wish to become a trio?" a voice broke through the hostility. It was level and controlled, but it held a sharp edge to it.
"If it isn't mother duck," they returned the sarcasm, speaking as one.