This Was No Longer a Fantasy

Asaya wasn’t sure how to feel about her reunion with Nemara. All she really knew was that it hurt. Everything did, from the moment Nemara had first tried to talk to her, to the moment Asaya had shut her down. Back during their fight four years ago, neither of them had been right or wrong, and it wasn’t that she couldn’t see where her old friend had been coming from, now that she’d had so long to mull it over. But what made everything so painful was that… even considering that both of them had done things they shouldn’t have… Nemara hadn’t tried to reach out afterwards. She hadn’t ever stopped by, or tried to offer support. And back then, Asaya had really, really needed support, especially the support of her closest friend, who had been by her side the longest out of anyone else in her life.

And what had ended up happening? Nemara did nothing. She didn’t show up, she didn’t say a word, she didn’t even have Lumis say anything for her, and that… that was what made everything hurt so much. So to see her try and talk to her now… Asaya really didn’t want to hear what she had to say. What could Nemara possibly say that would fix any of this? Asaya liked to think of herself as a pretty imaginative person, but even she couldn’t think of anything.

But it was pointless to think over any of that now, as what had been done was done, and the next fights were commencing. After all, it was tradition that any student who got accepted into Soul Star Academy had to fight one of the top students, as a form of orientation. And next up was Spike, as he’d won second place in their three-way fight by having stood in the arena for longer and for having put up a better fight than Willow, who had been eliminated right away. And his opponent was… Viper. The man’s real name, no one knew, but the nickname Viper was quite fitting now that Asaya finally came to get a look at his face.

His skin was a smooth lime green, and she could’ve sworn she saw small scales wedged into the base of his neck underneath his shirt. But if that was considered bizarre, no one would be ready to lay eyes on his hair, which was instead a hive of live green snakes rattling and hissing at Spike from across the field as he had one of his fingers in their small mouths, not seeming to mind the fact the animal was biting him with sharp fangs that pierced flesh. Though, Asaya had already heard about how his power worked, from information she’d managed to buy in advance… she already knew the widely known details about her new classmates, and Viper’s magic was… interesting, to say the least.

Viper was apparently very open about his magic and how it had manifested. Magic is a reflection of one’s young soul, of what they had been like as a child. That was why some viewed it to be someone’s base state or most innocent sense of self, and while some were more secretive and protective over that kind of rawness, Viper was entirely open about it and didn’t care what people knew, according to the information she’d received. In fact, he seemed to enjoy talking about it. And his power was…

“Why, hello there,” Viper smiled the moment the fight began, ignoring Spike’s immediate attack to step farther to the side, his movements quick and calculated as he dodged the incoming spikes over and over again, Spike’s constant attacks doing nothing to faze him as he kept walking backwards in fast circles, eyes fondly watching the other man’s attacks with a keen gaze. “You’re quite aggressive, so that’s good. And your power is adaptable, but not as adaptable as it could be. It looks like you haven’t learned how to make your spikes curve yet, have you? You can only shoot them in a straight line. That makes them easy to dodge, until you improve some more,” he remarked easily, Spike fuming at the factual statements, which Asaya could only imagine was something he didn’t want to hear.

“What are ya nitpicking at, fucker?!” Spike growled, unrelenting in his attacks as he knelt his hands to the ground, sending two sets of spikes Viper’s way in an attempt to block him in.

But the snake-like man merely stayed patiently in his spot, politely ignoring the way he’d been cornered as he reached out an arm to Spike, and the crowd all paled as they watched the scene below. Even Spike began to look a little horrified, as it appeared he was unfamiliar with Viper’s power, having not expected to see the man’s arm begin morphing itself into a live snake attached to his shoulder, and Viper let out an elated grin as he lunged for Spike without moving a step from his spot.

“AHHHH WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO, DON’T COME ANY CLOSER,” Spike screamed, and Asaya was surprised to see him actually turn tail and try to run, only to be picked up by the large snake wrapped around his waist, and Viper ignored the way Spike kept screaming as he lifted him high up in the air.

“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. These snakes all share my brain, see? They’re like extensions of me, even if they move on their own,” he reassured the screaming teenager, who kept struggling inside Viper’s grip as his spikes exploded all over his body, but the large snake’s scales absorbed the impact completely, leaving Spike terrified and boneless.

“Oh, sorry about that, the snake my arm has taken the shape of has very strong scales that can’t be cut by normal means. I’d like to say I planned this out and that I chose such a thick-skinned snake because I knew of your offensive powers, but I’m afraid that’s not the case. I just got very intrigued by this large snake’s hard armor and deadly poison. Speaking of poison, would you like to try some? Don’t worry, I have the antidote on me, so you won’t die!” Viper rambled rapidly, extending the finger of his free hand to turn into a smaller version of the same snake that had Spike locked in, extending it towards the other’s face as Spike struggled and screamed.

“NO!! HELL NO!! DON’T YOU DARE POISON ME, YOU FREAKISH BASTARD!!” he screeched, Viper looking slightly disappointed at the rejection, a small pout overcoming his features.

“Aw, really? I promise you, my methods are perfectly safe,” he pleaded, like a child begging his mother to let him eat some extra candy after dinner, as if things really were all that simple. “This poison has an extra special kick to it, it’ll make your stomach feel like it’s all ticklish and jumpy! I personally really liked the sensation, it's similar to the feeling of falling after jumping from a decent height. I’m sure you’d like it if you just gave it a chance, and as I said earlier, I have the antidote right here,” Viper desperately tried to convince, but Spike only stared at him like he was absolutely crazy.

“Are you insane?! Put me down right now!! You’re a fucking psychopath!!” Spike twisted and screeched, desperately kicking his dangling legs as Viper pouted at him. “Ugh, you insane snake bastard!! I get it, you’re stronger than me, but I don’t want your fucking poison! I forfeit, okay?! I forfeit!!”

“Well, you heard the man, Viper,” Pegasus whistled, flapping her wings near where Spike was struggling in the air, looking sympathetic for his situation. “Put him down now.”

“What? But we were just getting started,” Viper protested, although he reluctantly lowered his arm down, and Asaya watched with a sudden satisfaction as it morphed back into a regular human arm… despite the fact it was lime green.

But Viper still seemed disappointed, and he’d turned both of his pointer fingers into snakes as he watched them mess with each other. “We had yet to talk about their abnormal ability to dislocate their jaw further than the average snake, to the point they can let it dangle, or about how their scales turn different colors during different seasons, or how truly durable their scales are to all kinds of disasters… or what about their venom, it has so many different uses… and I have the antidote right here…” he mumbled sullenly, not moving from the stage until Pegasus started pushing him along, but he dragged his feet and rambled every step of the way. “Come on, why doesn’t anybody want to be poisoned? It’s so exhilarating, and it’s so much fun… if anyone wants to be poisoned, I’ll gladly let them join me in my experiments… we could poison ourselves together… I have plenty of antidotes, so it’s perfectly safe, and it would be amazing…”

Hm. Viper was crazier than she’d expected. Of course, that wasn’t a bad thing, as in this world, craziness is what makes some people so strong, and that man was definitely one of those people. He didn’t strike Asaya as someone who was insane, but there were definitely several things that were off about him. But according to her sources, a lot of people in Soul Star Academy still trusted him because of how open and friendly he was, and Viper had a reputation for being easy-going and hard to anger.

And his power? Well, it didn’t just include snakes. According to her intel, Viper had been an intensely abnormal child who would become obsessed over different types of animals and plants for different reasons. He created catalogues of bugs, snakes, frogs, ferns, weeds, vines, as well as anything that was poisonous or venomous. Viper had constant hyperfixations in these things and knew almost everything there was to know about them, and when he was fifteen, he learned he had the ability to turn his body into whatever animal or plant he was currently hyperfixating on.

It allowed him to create the same poisons that the plants and animals could, and it gave him the same defenses and abilities, as well. Viper was incredibly knowledgeable, and she heard his hyperfixations changed randomly and without warning, so she was excited to see where exactly being around him would take her. He was also the oldest in their class, being twenty-seven years old, which could explain why he already knew how to use his power so adeptly, as he must’ve been training for the longest.

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Honestly, Asaya hadn’t expected her, Spike, and Willow to stand much of a chance against these guys. Even if the three of them were all strong enough to get accepted into the gifted program, the people they were competing against had been in the class longer, and were at the top of it. That’s why she was confident in the belief that Spike shouldn’t be ashamed that he lost, and neither should she. Nemara and Viper have been training with professional instructors, so of course they’d have the upper hand. She hoped that Spike wouldn’t let it get to him, since Asaya knew how sensitive his pride was. But right now, she didn’t have time to let herself linger on that thought.

No, Asaya’s eyes were on the stage. Even if she could probably guess how this fight would turn out, she had different motives for watching so intently… because there he was. Her old friend, Lumis. The friend she’d pushed away and treated horribly, despite him just trying to reach her inside the dark forest she’d surrounded herself in. She was happy to see him again, even if the feeling wasn’t mutual. And this time… she hoped she’d get the chance to apologize.

She was also pretty excited to see what Willow’s powers were, too. She wasn’t sure how well they’d do, considering they’d been completely overpowered by Elkan and hadn’t been able to showcase themselves at all, but hopefully this time, they’d be able to show something impressive, or at least something that displayed any kind of grit or talent. Asaya wasn’t sure what her expectations should be, but she was open to anything, and watched the fight with intrigue.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Lumis. I hope we can have a good duel today,” her old friend introduced himself, taking a slight bow in front of Willow as they flinched, slumping themselves over as they tried to repeat the simple greeting.

“Oh, uh, hello… my, my name is Willow,” they nodded, moss eyes centered on Lumis’ amber stars. “I’m sure our duel will be… just fine.”

“Oh, really? I’m glad to hear you say so. I look forward to seeing what you can do,” Lumis smiled, the common sword in his hand apparent to Asaya. After all, his power was one known as perfection. Anything he touched would turn into the perfect version of exactly what he needed the moment he activated his mana, but he could only transform one object at a time. It reflected something Lumis had always been, and who she would like to assume he still was… a die-hard perfectionist. He might appear easy-going and lax on the outside, but Lumis never strayed from his routine or principals, and he was insanely strict with himself.

Last time she’d checked in on him, he forced himself to eat on a limited diet everyday full of only nutritional and healthy foods, and he refused to eat anything sweet or high on carbs… he worked out for two hours on weekdays and four hours on weekends… he always did all of his homework at the same time every day, the moment he got home from school, and he’d always refused to play with her and Nemara until it was finished… he was an intense neat-freak, who might not be afraid to get dirty or play rough, but who wanted everything to be clean and in order afterwards.

She remembered the day her and Nemara had been invited to his house for the first time for a sleepover, and Lumis clocked out the moment it hit midnight, like his body’s internal system just couldn’t bear to stay up a moment longer. Though, Asaya had never minded his perfectionistic nature, mostly because he never forced it on anyone else. He kept himself to high standards, but Lumis was keenly aware that everyone had different things they expected themselves to do, and didn’t try to get anyone to do what he did. He’d always been perfectly in tune with others and what they needed, so Asaya would even be willing to argue that he’d known her needs better than she had back when they’d been close. Ah man, she really regretted always ignoring his advice…

But now was no time to get herself down in the dumps thinking about that. Now, she’d been given an amazing opportunity, and that was to see how much Lumis had grown in the past four years! She was excited to watch him again, to watch him win!

Except, nothing went how she’d expected it too.

The moment the fight started, Asaya watched as Willow’s eyes began glowing a blaring green, their light lime color shining in the face of their opponent. But they didn’t move. No, instead, they just stood where they were and watched. And she couldn’t help but let her gaze get dragged back to Lumis, wondering about just what on earth Willow’s glowing green eyes could mean… when she laid sight on his face.

For some reason, Lumis looked very confused. He stumbled backwards, looking around frantically at something that wasn’t there, and Asaya could hear the crowd echoing thoughts of worry and concern about what was happening. Lumis looked genuinely panicked, and he nearly tripped over himself as he looked around at the skies, dark face turning an ugly shade of green as he called out, “Stop, no… what are you? What are you things? Where am I?”

His sword morphed into the perfect blade at his command, its normal, regular blade turning extravagant and sharp, and Lumis swung it at empty air, much to the crowd’s dismay. No one knew what was happening, and Asaya couldn’t help but look back to Willow, who’s eyes were still glowing strong. But her attention was immediately drawn back to Lumis when she heard him scream, watching as he dropped his sword and fell to one knee, holding his dominant hand as if it’d just been brutally injured.

Except, it looked perfectly unharmed to the rest of them… but that was when Willow began to move. Their shoulders were still slumped, and their posture still looked ridden with anxiety, but their expression was clear as they revealed a small knife from inside their sleeve, before they brought it right up to Lumis’ neck, slow and calculated. And that was when the arena declared their win, and Willow’s eyes returned to normal.

“Huh? What… what happened?” Lumis immediately blinked, staring at his situation in shock as he glanced at the knife by his neck, which Willow quickly scrambled to move.

“S… sorry…” they mumbled darkly, eyes having returned to their damp, moss color as they backed further away. “It was my power. Sorry… sorry…”

“Huh? Oh, uhh… I think it’s fine,” Lumis blanched, still coming back to his senses as he lifted himself back onto his feet, picking up his sword as he examined his hand all over again. Whatever Willow’s power was, it seemed that it could affect someone’s perception of reality. That was an interesting power, certainly… but of course, also very dangerous. She found herself wanting more details on it, so that she could properly dissect it and figure out how it worked, but Asaya figured she’d learn soon enough once they all met in the classroom. After all, she was fairly certain she was the only one who wanted to hide her power… Willow had looked pretty willing to tell her whatever their power was before Spike had stopped them, after all.

She quickly turned back to the room her, Spike, and Willow had originally come from, having been watching the fights out in the open near the back of the arena. No one had stopped her from doing so, and Spike had copied her by standing on the opposite end after his fight, so it seemed there was nothing wrong with that so long as they didn’t interfere. Still though, as Asaya met Willow again, she immediately approached them with an intrigued look, bright smile on her face as the other person began to instinctively shy away. “Hi there! Want to walk with me back to our classroom? I was given a map earlier, but I don’t want to navigate it on my own,” she welcomed, ignoring the way Spike huffed at her as he walked past, straight out the door without another word to spare.

And Willow looked almost hesitant, like they didn’t know what to say, before they surrendered with a small nod. “Shuu... sure,” they agreed smally, voice tense and full of doom and gloom, but Asaya merely smiled as she gestured them along.

“Great! Let’s get going, then,” she smiled, extending her map out in front of her as she looked at the instructions, noting that her classroom would be on the floor with the green carpet. But of course, Asaya always did like to make conversation, so she was anything but quiet as she led Willow along. “You did great out there, by the way. I was fully expecting all three of us to lose, since we’re the newbies and all, but you sure showed them! I thought it was amazing.”

“O, oh… thanks,” Willow stuttered, mussing with their sleeves as they kept their eyes on the ground. “You did… good too… I think…” they hesitated, squinting at their feet as they dared to ask the question that was on their mind. “I, I mean… that guy was, um… you, right?”

“Correct!” Asaya agreed, marching along through the hallways as she followed the signs, and thank goodness this place was well-mapped out. “That guy’s name is Elkan, and he works for me. Anything he accomplishes is an accomplishment of mine, too.”

“...really?” Willow blinked, finally starting to look a little invested in the conversation as their curiosity overtook them. “How does that, um… work?”

“Hmm,” she hummed, her tone lighthearted as she gave Willow a small smile. “It’s a secret.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” she shrugged, before they finally came across the green carpet, eyes brightening as she quickened her pace. “We’re almost there! We should be on this hallway! We are…” she muttered, swiftly checking each door number before lighting up when she found the right one, as it was always the small joys in life that made one truly happy. “Right here! Come on, Willow, let’s go introduce ourselves!”

“Oh, um, okay…” the other agreed, stepping inside first as Asaya opened the door for them, smiling to herself as she finally walked in.

Today had already been pretty long, so she doubted she’d be starting class today, but it was still the time she would be introducing herself. Introducing herself at Soul Star Academy, nonetheless. Everything still felt like a dream sometimes, but it was moments like these that proved to Asaya how real everything was. This was no longer a fantasy.

A quick scan over all her classmates told her who was who, with a total of ten of them in the class, now that three more had been added to the mix. She was excited to meet and get to know them all, but she was also prepared to not get along with some of them because of the plan she’d developed for herself. Because Elkan was right, she would probably receive a lot of backlash for the decision she was about to solidify.

“Are you prepared for that?” he’d asked, but… Asaya didn’t think it was that simple. It had nothing to do with whether or not she was prepared. But it had everything to do with proving to herself that her life was worth it. Even if no one understood, she would do her best to stay true to this new ideal she’d developed while extending her hand… and the true test here was whether or not anybody would take it.