"Papa, I wanna be like you one day!"
—----------------------
With barely any time to spare, a young beastgirl with cat-ears rushed home. She was late, which was unlike her. It took her more time to pack her bags than usual.
Her dorms weren't far from her house, her family was fairly comfortable to even afford a massive house in a richer district.
You'd assume she'd be a spoiled child but she never let her family's circumstances affect her behaviour with others.
Panting from the running, she finally arrived at her home. A beautiful tall maid bowed to her and proceeded to open the door. The girl smiled and thanked her, she was taught that from a young age and she thought it was the right thing to do.
"Thank you, Aunty Atla."
It was also her way of showing politeness, using the word "aunty". No matter how high of a ranking you achieve, you must respect your elders.
"Mom, Dad, I'm home!"
"Welcome home, Boryana my dear."
"Me and your dad were going to have dinner without you, I even prepared your favorite dish!"
"That'd have been very mean! I was just told by master to send his regards, that's what took me too long."
"I see. How about we have dinner first? I wanna discuss something with you after."
Dinner was served by the same maid that welcomed Boryana at the gates, with elegance and speed the dinner was prepared and set up. The dinner table was not as lavish as you'd think for a mansion.
A table with five seats set up, the dinner consisted of fried shrimp, rice, mackerel, and three servings of salad.
Dinner passed, a few jokes here and there made the mood lighter.
"Boryana, truth be told.. Your grades have arrived."
Her face clouded as she heard her father say that, she knew fairly well how this would play out.
"Listen, I know you wanted to learn the sword and become a royal guard like me.." With every word her fist tightened further and further 'Just don't say it. I already heard it there.' but to her dismay, those wishes weren't granted. "You don't need to force yourself to keep going if you can't. Me and your mother are very proud of you for how hard you've been working."
'Shut up!' and 'No, I wanna keep going!' were all Boryana could think of at the moment. Of course she couldn't tell her father to shut up. Her father, Raphael Rüdiger, was more than worried about his only daughter after all.
While his family is known for their great swordsmanship and for their long service for the kingdom; he did not wish to force the sword onto his daughter in fear of her hating him and the sword.
However, Boryana just stood at attention. "I'll do better next time, General."
A gesture that made her father sigh unconsciously, and she could only purse her lips in frustration.
Between a father's worry and a daughter's determination, there was no clear winner.
"Excuse me, General."
"Ah.. You're free to go."
With how awkward it was already, the only right option was to let the topic go. Something he has done many, many times before.
He could hear the sobbing in his daughter's voice already coming out, He was only worried for his daughter's well-being and grades were the last on his agenda.
Boryana closed the door with some force, without even noticing she did that.
"M'lady, I've prepared the bath for you–" and as soon as the maid finished her words, Boryana flew past her.
Running, running, running, all the way up the stairs. All the way down the corridor. All the way to a grand door. She flung it open, ran inside, and slammed it shut. Once inside her extremely suppressed feelings finally broke out.
Her wails and cries couldn't be heard from the outside. she cried and cried and cried again. Hot tears rolled down non-stop like a river flowing into the ocean. her dignified look became disheveled from how much she kept rubbing her head trying to silence her thoughts.
It went on for a while. Even she, didn't know how long it took her to fall asleep from exhaustion.
And that wrapped up her day back at home. The visit ended quicker than it was supposed to, and Boryana decided to head back to her dorms the next day.
The moment she arrived back, she was told to get ready for mock fights. It was standard after exams that students would try to refine their skills, especially those who decided to stay in dorms.
Nothing too intense, just basic training drills to fix posture or reactions. Well– not all took it seriously at least.
These weren't the only drills done during the beak. The academy focused on multiple topics to not just bring forth guards, but the finest of guards.
Magic, Swordsmanship, and Archery. The students who picked swordsmanship weren't forced to pick archery and the opposite as well, however they were obligated to study magic as it benefits them either way.
Mock fights were one-on-one training, monitored by teachers so no student would end up getting hurt during them.
Boryana was training with a boy who was taller by at least four inches, he had spiky red hair and a scar going through his eyebrows.
"That all ya got? The Rüdigers sure have it rough if this is their next generation."
With that mocking tone he pointed the wooden sword they used for practice at Boryana's throat. At this point, her back was on the ground and she was still writhing in pain.
"MacAlister, back off." A commanding voice echoed through the training ground
The training ground was split into multiple grounds, separated by an unbreakable glass wall. It was glass imported from the nation blessed by the rock element. It made it easy to monitor multiple fights at once and made teachers' jobs easier.
"Are you okay, Boryana?" The teacher knelt down to help his student up.
"Yes, General. I'm okay."
"General Marcus, You're being too nice to this failure." the boy rested his sword on his shoulder then with a mocking tone, spoke up.
"No one in this academy is a failure, everyone has their strengths. Speaking of failures, shouldn't you be studying magic? You're below 30%."
The boy's mouth opened wide then excused himself back to his dorm, supposedly to study and bring his grade up.
"Little Boryana, if you don't want to do this, don't force yourself. I know Raph, he'd allow you to quit if you–"
As soon as those words fell onto her ears, her eyes grew wide in agitation as if it was a beast who was provoked by a famous tank.
'Stop. Stopstopstopstopstopstop just stop already I know it already!'
"Sorry, General. I've got something to do." Boryana quickly dusted herself off, and walked off. Not forgetting to bow in appreciation for Marcus helping her up.
What she thought and what she could and should say were very different. The vast difference made her feel like she wasn't herself. But ignoring that, she headed back to her room.
Once it was dinner time, an announcement was made in the cafeteria.
"Everyone, we've set up the table for battles for the next semester. You'll find it in your dorm rooms. Good luck." Marcus said then he signaled for everyone to continue their meals.
Once she was finished, she put her service plate back in the washing machine, washed her utensils at the sink and headed out of the cafeteria. It was a spacious space, with at least 20 round tables with 4 chairs each. Mages were a thing and all they did was cope up in their rooms studying magic and going to the cafeteria.
While walking back to her room, she passed by the communication room. It was the standard route she took everyday. It was a place far from others, and she could take a brief detour to take a small walk.
However this time, the room had someone, and that someone was a voice she knew well.
"To tell you the truth, Raph.. She's overworking herself to not disappoint you.. She puts in effort yet it all somehow ends up amounting to nothing.. I feel bad for her… Yes, I'll try talking to her again. Thank you, Raph."
Her stride stopped momentarily, then her eyes widened upon hearing all of that. "Is someone there?" Marcus called, which alerted Boryana to rush back to her room.
And for her, the next two days of break were a complete blur. She couldn't remember a thing to save her life as she just kept practising all day long.
And it was finally time for her round.
"Remember everyone, have a clean match and do not aim to hurt your opponent. They're still your friend and ally." A gentle teacher said as he was the referee for that match.
It was Boryana against her nemesis, Mathias MacAllister. The son of a well-known merchant that decided to abandon his father's specialty and become a royal guard.
"Huh. Never knew they allowed failures to enter these."
However his provocation didn't work as Boryana took her time to unsheath her sword from its place.
"Hiding your anger with these actions just shows that you really have no lust for battle and no skills for this job."
Again she paid him no mind as she looked at her sword once, twice then got in her ready stance.
There was only silence, there wasn't really a "Go!" sign or a shout. They just went at it whenever they felt like it.
It was Mathias who got provoked by Boryana's cold actions. He rushed in and thus it started.
Kicking, swiping, and there was no talk during that fight. They both let their swords talk. The sound of metal on metal clanged and roared through the ground. The sound was deafening, if they both could hear it at least. Both of them were too immersed to feel anything. It was like a sword dance instead of a fight. A dance only those who carry the sword could appreciate. And in just 5 minutes. It ended.
"Not bad, Cat. You even left a mark on my face huh."
Mathias was heavily panting and the slash on his cheek was bleeding, it looked like it was for a while too. However,
"Mathias MacAllister is the winner"
A mark, or a slash, it didn't matter as in the end Boryana's sword fell perfectly on the ground next to her.
However it took her body a few more seconds to follow. as soon as it finally hit her, she fell to her knees covering her face.
"Boryan–"
Hearing her name, she looked at the source. Her face, full of desperation and exhaustion. Everything around her was nothing but a blur, her panting grew stronger and stronger but she had to get up, or she'd truly be someone she couldn't even look at in a mirror.
"Nevermind. You can go back to your room."
Silently, she picked up her sword and headed back to her room.
Some hours passed,and she didn't realize how long passed until her dorm-mates called for her "Boryana, it's dinner time." But they received no reply back.
"Boryana, Can I take your share then?"
Again, no response.
They guessed that she was just asleep and needed time alone so they went out but couldn't help but feel worried.
"This one really hit her hard."
"She has been practisin' non-stop, 'Course she'd be upset, dummy!"
"Still, this is not like her usual. She'd usually at the very least keep looking at her sword."
"I hope she's okay.. Should we even leave her alone?"
"Well, dinner is callin' y'know?"
"Yeah."
After the sound of those whispers disappeared into the hall, Boryana finally took off the cover and started hitting her pillow. Slowly, gradually getting harder and harder.
Why me?! What have I done wrong?! Why is everyone so much better!!?
However her arms grew weaker and weaker and her hits became weaker and weaker.
"Why can't I be like mom or dad?" She paused again "Weren't they both the greatest in their positions??! THEN WHY AM I–"
A bright purple light suddenly started growing stronger in front of her eyes, and a few moments of it growing stronger and stronger, a loud bang was heard through the entire building.
The warning system was going wild. And Marcus rushed over to the source of the sound 'Intruders ? seriously?!' He thought before he finally arrived at the room.
It was extremely loud it got a lot of students from the cafeteria wanting to know what happened.
"Out of my way, out of my way!" Marcus yelled as he shoved a few students out of the way of the door.
"Everyone! Go to the cafeteria, it might not be safe!"
Yet no one obeyed, "anyone standing here in 5 seconds will be assigned 1000 pushups."
And as soon as he said that, everyone scrammed.
The room was filled with electrical shock marks. Some of the walls were scorched and some were scarred.
"No way.." Marcus murmured quietly.
A teary eyed, messy haired Boryana sat on top of her bed and looked back at Marcus.
And thus, Boryana got herself a magic crystal. It didn't take long for her to be transferred to a special program for unique students with crystals.
….
.....
...…
"Hey!!" A voice rang in Boryana's mind.
"From Earth to Jailbait, you blanked for 10 minutes straight!"
Boryana's thoughts were interrupted by that voice that had no consideration for her state of mind.
"I told you before! I'm not Jailbait!"
Although sounding angry, Boryana couldn't help but laugh.
"You're weird huh.. Did you hit your head when you fell?"
"Yeah. Yeah I did. I'm extremely glad I hit my head." Boryana replied while laughing off her problems.