:RoM: Fae Arch FanFic 1- Skeptic's Epiphany pt.1

A Skeptic's Epiphany

Part One: The Set-Up

Anyone who ever said a hike in the woods was "pleasant" or "inspiring" is a dumbass and should have their tongue cut out for slander. Seriously, how can anyone enjoys such a long, boring, ridiculously cold and wet waste of time is beyond me. No one else was having fun, I promise you that. At the very least, one as great as I shouldn't have to stoop so low as to-

"Clide, hurry up. We're gonna leave you behind, idiot," Kurai yelled at me from the top of the ridge. The forest's monstrous trees devoured the sound.  His shout became little more than a whisper, even though my best friend couldn't have been more than twenty yards away. God damned forest.

I pushed my bag higher on my shoulder and plodded on. A giggle erupted to my right.

"I think Kurai misses you," the petit girl told me mischievously, "you've been apart for like, five minutes. That's a long time for you two, are you going to be okay?"

I glared at her and slung my arm over her shoulders. "Don't be jealous, Iruka, that guy has nothing on your sarcasm."

"Who said it was sarcasm?"

My girlfriend, queen of cheekiness.

       Before I could deliver a brilliant come-back something hard and wickedly sharp poked into my back.

"Turtle. Move your ass before I move it for you."

Speaking of Queens of Cheek, her comes the supreme Overlord. This one I didn't even bother looking at.

"I'd like to see you try, air-head," I said breezily, flapping my hand at her. To think one as great as me could be bested by-

Suddenly kissing the ground is a unique experience. Unfortunately, around this particular aeromancer, it was not uncommon. I spun on her.

"God DAMN it! Fuzei! Stop kicking me! Shit!" I pointed an accusing finger at her, "Why can't you act like a girl for once?!"

She actually had the gall to stick her tongue out. Seriously, what was she, twelve? I thought seriously about giving her a shiner like one of the many she'd given me. But I am a gentleman, and would never raise my hand to a lady.

It also helped that at that moment, our professor and leader of this sorry little jaunt decided to set half the damn forest on fire.

Well, not quite, but the quiet man had definitely just turned half an acre to ash in three seconds flat. He may have been more annoying than a hen-pecking wife, but the man knew his pyromancy.

The three of us presently came upon to the circle of barren ground surrounding Kurai and the professor. Fuzei threw her bag on the ground and began rifling through it. She eventually reemerged with a compact white bag that my backside knew with painful intimacy.

The aeromancer placed the bag on the ground and flicked her fingers at it. I could feel the magic electrocute the air. A tiny sliver of wind cut across the bag in the exact center. With sudden violence, the bag erupted, growing twice, four times, and eventually two hundred times its original size.
Suddenly, a little white tent stood in the bag's place. I couldn't count on all ten fingers and toes the number of times that stupid thing has hit me during its transformations.

Fuzei took her bag and disappeared into the tent. Iruka patted my arm in mock sympathy and joined her friend inside. Girls. Ugg.

"Clide, Kurai, you'll help me secure the perimeter tonight," A tall, white haired man said, seeming to materialize from the smoke. I scrunched my nose and was about to tell him just where he could shove that, when my best friend beat me to it.

"Professor Soul, are you worried about Twisted? Out here? Aren't we still pretty close to the Capital?" Kurai grilled the professor. I elbowed him in the ribs. Oi, he was such a teacher's pet.

Who cared about the Twisted anyway? The Wave that crumbled modern civilization and created strong holds like the Capital had also wrecked havoc on the genetic pools of many species. Plants, animals, and even people, all had been vulnerable to the Wave's mutative properties, those fifty years ago. The mutants were generally just called Twisted.

But the wave had also made us. Magi. Pretty cool, if you ask me. Most of us had been born with our abilities, but a lot of professors had quite suddenly just "had" them. As far as I knew, Professor Soul was one of them. Thus the old guy had the very annoyingly common view that something so drastically life-changing should not be taken lightly.

Paranoid weakling talk, if you ask me.

"Excellent questions as always, Kurai. Although we remain within the sights of the city, this area has only recently been fully cartographed. In truth we do not know what lurks here. This is, of course, part of the reason the Dean decided this location for our field study. We must be ever vigilant, for many of the Twisted retain their human wiles. If we are ever to let down our guard, these creatures could..."

...blah, blah, blah. Ugg, the man could go on. I just wanted to set up the tent, eat, and maybe go find some quiet place with Iruka...not listen to lectures all night! But once Soul got started, it would be forever 'till he ran himself down.

"...and we haven't found their bodies. It is suffice to say that even in the safest place, the Twisted can and will harm, for it is their sole purpose is to wreck utter havoc and..."

Sole purpose...Soul's purpose...heh.

"Mr. Rosenhall, do you have something to say?"

Whoops, I hadn't meant to laugh out loud. But if I had the spot light anyway, I might as well enjoy it.

"Look, Teach, I get that you lesser-Magi have to be all scared and stuff. In fact, there is no shame in the weak being scared of the strong. But, Teach , we," I gestured to my class mates, "We ain't no lesser Magi. We were born with this, remember? People like us, like me , have nothing to fear from some weak little Twisted thing. I'd beat it up in two seconds flat."

"Attitude like that's gonna get you killed," Kurai muttered. He actually said that after I'd made such a great speech and probably saved us from hours of lecture!

"What the hell is wrong with you" I growled back.

"Me?! I'm not the one bragging about this and that when I haven't actually done anything! Show some respect, you idiot!"

"Respect?! I'll give respect where it's due! It sure as hell ain't due to someone that'd rather run away with their tail between their legs!"

"That's because your thick skull can't comprehend that there might be other factors at play than your own overblown arrogance!"

Okay, that did it. I stood sharply, my eyes crackling. "It's called confidence, moron, and if you had some, maybe you wouldn't be the one at the bottom of the pile all the time!"

A fist to the face was a refreshing change from Kurai's usual way of dealing with our fights. I must say, I hadn't expected it. However, when it came, I reacted immediately. My left hook wasn't so bad either, and soon both of us had ugly shiners on our eyes.

Almost before the fight even began, Soul had both of us surrounded in flames so hot, even one as great as I couldn't cross them.

"Enough."

Yeah, easy for Teach to say. That little blonde bastard, I was going to tear him to bits!

Across the flame dividers, Kurai distinctively turned away, snorting in derision. His usual "higher than thou" routine, arg.

"I can see that the trip has been draining for the both of you. Go and collect wood for the fire. Do not return until you have a full arm load. And do not leave one another's side," Soul told us coldly. "Understand?"

"Yes, Professor," Kurai mumbled. The fire barrier instantly disappeared around him. Professor Soul looked at me next, waiting.

Of course, I did what any real man would do; I folded my arms and made steely-eye like.

The fire's heat rose exponentially until I'm pretty sure I was getting third degree burns. "Ow, ow, ow, okay, okay, I get it!!" Like Kurai's, the barrier around me disappeared in a flash. Professor Soul turned on his heel and went off to do whatever annoying old men do.

The girls stepped out from the haze of smoke, one concerned, the other annoyingly contemptuous. Iruka hurried to my side and touched my neck. "Are you okay? We heard arguing."

"More like we heard you get your ass kicked," Fuzei told me smugly. I calmly flipped her off, before turning back to Iruka.

"It's all good, Kurai is just being an ass, you know how it goes," I said jovially, while glaring daggers at my friend. Kurai seemed to have no trouble ignoring me and chatting to Fuzei.

"You're getting firewood? Do pyromancers actually need wood? Or fuel of any kind?" Fuzei asked, apparently having heard about the "punishment" from Kurai.

Kurai's eyes darkened. "No, we don't. Professor Soul is pretty pissed off, thanks to someone."

I rolled my eyes and pecked Iruka on the forehead. "Be back soon, don't let Fuzei bully you."

Iruka looked affronted, "Fuzei isn't a bully, she-" But I was already dragging Kurai into the forest. The faster we did this stupid, meaningless task, the faster we could come back.

For a while, neither of us spoke. Neither of us picked up any twigs either. Seriously, firewood? Soul wasn't the only one pissed off.

I was about to stomp back into camp when something silver glinted from deeper in the forest.

"Hey, look at that," I pointed at the small light. Kurai studiously ignored me. I stomped on his foot. "I said look!"

Glaring at me, my prissy friend turned to see for himself. I puffed with pride when he kept staring. "What do you say we screw this firewood crap and go check it out?" If I had to be stuck in this awful place, we might as well explore it.

Kurai and I maneuvered through the undergrowth, closing in on the light. As we got closer, the shine resolved itself into some kind of pendent, thrown carelessly into a pile of decaying leaves. I hated leaves. Especially dead ones. They had a nasty habit of turning into Twisted Whirligigs that tried to eat your face...

Kurai stopped at the edge of the pile, causing me to nearly run into him. "Ugh, what's wrong with y-" My words froze in my throat when I laid eyes on the jewelry.

Now, I am a man's man, and I don't get in a tizzy when I see something pretty. But something about the delicate silver curls and embedded crystals of the pendent hypnotized me. All other thoughts fled like mice.

My friend and I moved at the same time to pick it up, taking a synchronized solid step into the leaves.

Which turned out not to be so solid. The lack of ground was almost as startling as the sudden ten foot drop. Time slowed down, and I distinctly remember thinking about the health concerns when falling from this height. Probably I was going to loose consciousness and I should cover my head or something.

Oh and leaves. Never trust leaves. Or pretty bits of jewelry. Or Kurai, damn him too. Just because.

Time suddenly regained its normal flow, and the world went black.

To be continued...