*Thud*

Lately I’ve been sleeping in Glacia’s arms. Though she usually stays up later than me to write her thesis, when I wake up in the morning, I’ll be wrapped inside her body. To be honest, she seems to enjoy having the company just as much as me. Though I train myself to magical exhaustion by practicing Foresight or Disguised Casting everyday, every once in a while, I’ll still wake up in the middle of the night due to a bad dream. Her comforting touch and lullabies always help me relax.

Sometimes, I’ll catch Glacia having a night terror as well. She’ll mumble incoherently, never words I understand, sometimes the language of the Half-Wraiths, other times just meaningless yells. On those nights, I do my best to turn around and bury her in my small body to make her feel just a little bit better. It’s the least I can do. I’ve never said anything to her about it, and intend to take the secret with me to the grave. However…this morning, when I wake up, Glacia is not wrapped around me as usual. Instead…it seems my skull is on the ground.

Huh? Is that…?

“Alright Acolyte! I only know one way to teach you! So, get your butt moving!” A shadow stands over me in the candlelight. It’s very obviously Romy, however, she’s wearing a white kabuki racoon mask. On the floor of the guest bedroom, I try to understand what’s happening. She pulls out two extremely wicked looking short swords and menacingly clacks their blades together. “Come on! You asked for this! Prove to me you’re willing to learn!”

“What? Oh…okay!” It seems this is Romy’s bizarre method of training. A sneak attack in the wee hours of the night, while I’m sleeping. How is this swordsmanship training? “What should I do?”

“Acolytes don’t talk. They are silent and listen to their betters. Just because you’re my cute nephew don’t expect any lenience!” Romy’s words are totally at odds with her stern voice. I can’t reconcile the tough drill sergeant-like person in front of me with the woman who will happily cook dinner and ask for children. “This is how I learned so it’s how you will too! Unless you want to quit!?”

*Clack*

*Clack*

Her swords make a distinct metallic noise when they bang together that is very disconcerting. Well, it’s a bit weird, but Mark says that Romy is in fact much stronger than he is. So…maybe this is just what it takes to become strong for her? Whatever, I’ll go with it. It’s not like Romy would ever hurt me anyways, right?

*Smack*

“OWW!” Romy’s precision kick to my backside is delivered by what I used to think are soft leather boots. I will never make that mistake again. “What was that for?!”

*SMACK*

“OWWWWW!” The second kick teaches me to shut up. Instinctively, I peek into the future and realize that if I say anymore, only pain awaits me. Okay, don’t talk back. Got it!

“Good. Better. Shutting up and listening is how you learn.” Romy’s voice becomes quieter, but remains just as hard as I clench my teeth together and hold in my protests. I can’t believe she’d really hit me! “Okay, go outside. And take this. Don’t ever let it leave your side again. Unless you want to be punished!” She tosses me Mephis’s dagger. Wait when did she get that? “Letting an enemy sneak in and take your weapon. Pathetic. We have a lot of work to do! Got it?”

“Mmm!” I grunt while nodding, not sure if I’m allowed to say anything and she hits me again.

*Smack*

The blow is a little softer this time at least.

“No noises. An Acolyte must be so silent that even the wind does not hear them coming.” She says some more anime-like lines while threatening to beat the crap out of me. Not wanting to give her an excuse to hit me again, I get to my hands and knees. “Outside. Go on. If you can make it to the apple tree, you pass the lesson for today.”

The apple tree? There’s one in the yard. It’s not that far away. Maybe twenty paces at most. That’s it? How is that even swordsmanship training?

I don’t question her however. I’ve already learned what happens when you ask Romy questions while she’s in training mode. It’s like my sweet Auntie has turned into a Terminator. Her foot is hard enough. Maybe she has a metal skeleton under her boot?

“Still not going?” Romy’s low voice is danger embodied.

*Clack*

“BEGIN!” She bangs her swords together and I scramble to my feet and run out of the room like a bat out of hell. Apple tree! APPLE TREE!

*Thud Thud Thud*

My footsteps thump against the living room floor and it seems that Romy doesn’t want to mess up the house because she lets me get out the front door before finding me.

“Too loud. Too slow! What has Mark been teaching you? Tortoise-style?” She taunts me, and I can’t even see her, only hear her voice. It’s like a ghost whispering is in my ear. What the hell? When I burst through the living room and get the front door open, that’s when Romy strikes.

*Smack*

“AHHHHK!” I have to let out a cry of misery as her foot finds the same spot again on my backside. I’m sent sprawling out the door onto the front lawn. My cheek lands in the dirt and I taste blood in my mouth. Damnit, I bit my lip!

“SHUT UP! You think your enemies will care if you moan?” Romy gives me an extra kick on the butt for good measure. “GET UP! How can you get your revenge while lying down? Fight back!”

Ow OW OW! WHAT THE HELL ROMY!

Angry, I rise to my feet. Leveling Mephis’s dagger at Romy, I take a fighting stance, only to see Romy sheathe her two short swords on her back. Her eyes behind the raccoon mask don’t even look away from mine as she puts away her swords. Warily, I lower my guard just a bit.

*Flicker*

*Smash*

I caught a blur of motion. Romy might be faster than Mephis. She dances forward and spins on one heel, roundhouse kicking me on the chin into the next life. My world turns white and when I come too, I’m back on the ground, my head spinning. I vomit, dangerously close to passing out.

“Why are you on the ground again, Acolyte? I thought I told you to fight back?” For the first time ever, a genuine fear of Romy comes into my heart. She normally must take great pains to hide it, but she is absolutely not just a delicate motherly woman, hoping to have a child. Whatever her past was, it must have been terrifying. And now I’ve told her that I want to share in that past. Oh…crap.

“W-Wait, Romy!” I’m not peeking into the future anymore. My brain is too scattered from the blow. Not that it would matter if I could see a second ahead right now. There is no defense from this monster, even if she’s going easy on me and not using her weapons. “Is this reall-!”

*SMACK*

I don’t even know when she got behind me, one second I’m getting to my knees, holding up a hand in front of my face, the next, that hand is being kissed by my nose as it pats the dirt.

“OWWW!”

“So pathetic. I come ready to train a genius and yet instead, I get a little child who only knows how to lie on the dirt. If that’s really all you have, then maybe I should just give up here. Is this the depth of your revenge?” Romy taunts me once more, but this time, I can tell she’s being a bit more serious. Asking me if I want to quit. Romy isn’t mean. She is genuinely trying to help me, the only way she knows how. I asked for this. How lame would I be if I just gave up after ten minutes?

“…” I say nothing. Just wipe the blood leaking from my nose with the back of my hand and get to my feet. Hold up my dirt-covered dagger weakly.

“This, I like! Show me more of this!” Romy yells. “Now continue your mission!” She points at the apple tree twenty paces away. Its tall boughs dance enticingly in the wind. It doesn’t seem very far at all. However, I’m not dumb enough to think I can make it there with Romy behind me. Instead of going for the tree… I go for the enemy at my front first! I can see her watching me behind the eye holes of her racoon mask. There’s just the slightest narrowing of her eyes as I charge her. Damn…she expected this.

*WHAM*

“Too obvious! Sneak attacks don’t work from the front unless you’re smarter than your opponent! And you Acolyte, are acting like an idiot!” She beats me viciously back onto the ground. I have no idea what hit me, I just know I’m in the dirt again. “Don’t you have something else to offer? Or do you intend to poke at me with a stick until the day you die?”

Something else…magic. She means magic.

“But that’s dangerous! I could hurt-!” My protest doesn’t even come out of my mouth before I realize I’ve made a terrible mistake. The killing intent around Romy thickens and I back away. “W-Wait I didn’t mean to talk-!”

“Weak, slow, stupid! If you think anything you can do can hurt me then you’re just a worm!” I just barely catch sight of her boot twisting like a snake through the air before it catches me on the ear and knocks my world sideways. “Use everything you have…or I’ll kill you before you can yield!”

“…” I think Romy’s just playing. Definitely…absolutely definitely. But what if this is part of her philosophy? Trainee’s lives are forfeit for the cause or something?

“Attack! Do I need to spell it out for you?” She yells and I instinctively snap.

ENOUGH!

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

I start to say the chant out loud. My logic is that will give Romy time to react and defend herself, as long as I keep the power level down. However…

*Wham*

She smashes the words from my mouth with another kick before I even come close to finishing.

“Pathetic. I see now the depths of your uselessness. No wonder you couldn’t do anything when Mephis was attacked. With magic at this level, everyone relying on you is doomed, Acolyte!” Romy yells at me while my ears are still ringing. It takes me a second to understand what she is saying because of that. However…when I do…

“What did you say?!” I roar out and her eyes narrow under the mask.

“I thought I told you not to speak…Acolyte?” She tenses. I’m finally starting to see her muscles preparing to deliver a kick. However, I’m mad. Romy has just said the one thing I hate to hear the most. The thing I tell myself every night.

Useless…?

I’m useless?!

I ALREADY KNOW THIS!

“SCREW YOU!” My scream surprises even Romy. She instinctively dodges, swaying back like she’s doing the Matrix, as my silent incantation of Chill shoots over her head.

“Hahaha! Still too weak! Always too slow! Can’t you give me even a little challenge, Acolyte?” She insanely chuckles while the deadly ice missiles pass over her. Then she snaps back up and kicks me so hard my teeth rattle. As I sprawl on the dirt, she comes over to speak some more, but I’m not playing anymore. “So bad-HUH?”

[Frozen Wind of My Soul, Come Forth-Chill]

[Stormy Breeze of My Loneliness, Gather Forth-Gust]

I spit the words for Gust out while internally silent casting Chill. In my rage, I stop caring about Romy’s safety. I forget that she’s trying to help me. All that remains in my head is that I want to make her shut up. One of the techniques Glacia has been teaching me comes out in that moment. I shorten every second word of Gust, increasing the chanting speed drastically. As I raise my head out of the dirt and blow my words into the dirt, a single horrendously large ice shard appears above me, the length of my hand. It’s practically an ice knife. When I complete Gust, it starts to accelerate towards Romy’s face at a frightening speed. The little space between us will be crossed in an instant. Her thin raccoon mask will be penetrated and then her brain will split open…

“STOP!” Mark’s voice comes out of nowhere and I think it’s directed towards me. Instantly, shame blasts through my mind and I realize that I’ve just unleashed a potentially deadly magic at Romy. She thinks I’m just casting Gust!

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

Someone fast casts the shortened incantation for Burn. The deadly ice dagger melts into harmless water in midair and splashes onto Romy’s mask.

Glacia’s watching?

She stopped me…?

Thank God, she stopped me…!

Mark rushes out of the house and sees me lying with my face covered in dirt, casting magic. He looks at Romy who is still standing there with her mask, in front of me.

“ROMY! I agreed I’d let you do as you wished, but this too much! He’s just a child!” His rage oddly enough doesn’t seem to be directed at me. Something is prickling my neck. Like there’s a hot candle being held to my jugular. When I glance down, I realize I can’t move. Romy’s hand is holding a dagger I’ve never seen before. And she’s pressing it to my Adam’s Apple. When did she…? I never saw a thing!

“Myrr, that spell is too dangerous! Did you even tell Romy what you were capable of?!” Unlike Mark, Glacia correctly directs her anger at me. I shiver, trying not to fall on Romy’s dagger. My hands are running out of strength after the repeated beatings I’ve taken today. I can’t say anything to my magic tutor. The dagger on my throat is preventing me. She never gave me a chance to explain anything!

“That’s enough for today.” Romy’s soft voice has the slightest tremble. The hardness disappears and suddenly she is no longer a monstrous foe, but just my auntie. However…I will never see her the same way again. “Do you…do you want to continue tomorrow?”

“Romy! NO! Myrr is just a boy! He’s too young for this!” Mark rages and steps forward. However, as Romy removes her knife from my throat, I realize that I can see tears dripping off the mask. Romy didn’t want to teach me. But we made her do it. This is our entirely fault. No…it was my decision. My fault…

“Tomorrow. I want to learn more from Auntie Romy.” I say quietly, swallowing as a little blood wells from a small cut on my neck. “You’re the strongest. I want to learn how to become like you.”

“No…you don’t.” Auntie Romy shakes her head sadly. “Y-You really don’t.” She was like a totally different person today, but now she worries about me like a mother. “I…I cut you. I’m so sorry! But when you finally cast that spell, I was so shocked. I instinctively reacted to your killing intent! Mark…I’m a terrible person…how could I against a child…”

“Romy…” Mark and Glacia appear. One watches with disapproval for his wife, the other with disapproval for her student. “This isn’t a good idea. There must be another way for Myrr to learn to fight. We should give up until we find another teacher.”

“Auntie…Romy?” I feel terrible about this whole thing. Leaning forwards, I jump into Romy’s chest and hug her as hard as I can. Sometimes being a child has it perks. I fit perfectly in-between her heaving breasts. “I know you would never really hurt me. In the end, I was the one who lost control. You were just reacting to my mistake. It won’t happen again. I’ll never use such dangerous magic against someone I care about again.”

“N-No…” Romy sniffs and her arms suddenly wrap around me tightly. “That wasn’t really dangerous for me, Myrr. Magic of that level cannot penetrate my Qi. I was just surprised. Rather though…to raise a hidden blade against a child. How pathetic. It seems my Master was right. I really do not have any control…”

“I thought you were the coolest though.” A little sweettalk is the only thing I can use to penetrate Romy’s sadness. “Waaaay cooler than Mark! He just swings his sword around and tells me to follow him. Auntie Romy really can fight in many ways. And I think I learned a lot. If I keep learning from you I think I can become stronger a lot faster!”

“H-Hey! What are you saying, Kid! After I told you the secret method to convince her…” Mark abruptly shuts up mid-protest as he almost accidentally lets slip a deadly detail. Still…Romy gives him a suspicious stare. A little worried that Mark’s days may be numbered if he’s not more careful, I reach up and tug on the sides of Romy’s raccoon mask with each hand. This is surprisingly difficult to get off. When it is removed, my auntie’s beautiful face is revealed. She has a very stiff expression, but I think her mood is improving the more I talk. Her husband nervously enquires, “H-Honey? Are you feeling a bit better?”

“Heh…absolutely, Mark. Absolutely.” She sighs and cracks her neck. Then stands up, lifting me up effortlessly with her. Plopping me on the ground, suddenly she begins to smile radiantly. “Hohoho did you hear that? Myrr likes my lessons better! And he agrees that I’m the strongest…no wait, he said I was the coolest, right! You all heard that! Hehehe…I don’t even care that my lousy, traitorous, sperm-lacking, husband betrayed me and schemed behind my back!” Her tears are forgotten as she strides back into the house quickly, leaving us all outside.

“Uhh…is she okay?” Glacia asks Mark when Romy’s footsteps disappear upstairs. However, he does not answer. Instead, he trembles and drops to his knees. I realize that he may be crying and look away politely as Glacia begins to sense something’s wrong, “Mr. Mark? Are you…okay? What’s wrong?”

“F-Frick…she…she…she knows I told Myrr to say I was stronger than her! Oh gods…oh Yuel, I know I haven’t been a very good lamb, but please save this wayward member of your flock! I may have strayed, but I am in sore need of your divine protection! Amithabha frick FRICK! Don’t just stand there you useless little twerp. This is all because of my love for you! Hurry up and pray with me to save your uncle’s life!”

“Mr. Mark??!!”

Ahh damn…it’s true though. He really did help me out. But now that I know what Romy’s like, I can’t get on her bad side. Helping Mark might be suicide. Hopefully his Qi is strong enough to save him tonight. I don’t need to peek into the future to know that no god can save Mark. If I stay near him, I might get killed by accident. As such…the smart move would be…a tactical retreat!

Sorry Mark! But I can’t die before taking my revenge so I need to go.

“Hey, Glacia, how about we have our magic lesson in the forest today! It’s great weather hahaha!” I grab hold of my teacher’s sleeve before anyone can react and run for my life. Behind us, a despairing scream continues to echo as the morning sun rises in our faces.

“W-Wait, Myrr, why are you running away! COME BACK AND PRAY FOR ME! HELP ME PRAY YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD!”