Sarah and the rest of the recruits were already assembled within the Training Hall, its vaulted ceiling echoing faint murmurs, while Delilah, poised and unyielding, was in the midst of unveiling the second cryptic clue issued by the Board of the Wood Hints Tournament. That was when the door slammed open.
"Sorry, am late." He exhaled in a rush, his ribs swelling and collapsing like dough fighting to escape an oven's heat.
Every gaze snapped toward him. He stood framed in the doorway like an afterthought to the moment, awaiting Delilah's permission to enter, though the air was thick with judgment.
Well, he had been going through a lot of secret training sessions with this strange man, and due to the fact that he knew nothing about his Within Beast, which, in turn, turned out to be the hardest and rarest beast to tame, well. The training with the strange man had now dived and dug into the time of his basic training.
Still glaring at him were Delilah and the rest of the recruits, Draco enjoying the sight of Simma always fucking up.
"Where have you been?" Delilah asked, as Simma replied as though it had become his habit.
"Eem, nowhere?"
It had been three days since that fateful first meeting with the strange man, three days of vanishing from dawn until dusk. Each time he returned, he answered questions with the same evasive word 'nowhere'. But saying it to Delilah was another matter entirely.
"What do you mean, nowhere? Or is that a code name you have given to the tavern?"
A low ripple of laughter and muttering passed through the recruits. The rumour that he'd taken to drink was, of course, a gift from that mysterious mentor. Well, thanks to him, now everyone thought he was a drunk.
"I haven't been drinking," Simma shot back, irritation edging into his voice.
"Oh-oh," Sarah sneered, her smirk carried a sting, catching the subtle heat in his tone. She had noticed the note of anger in his voice.
It seemed like Delilah noticed it too, since she then replied,
"Well, join the line."
Simma strode over and joined the line, falling into place within the intricate hexagonal formation etched into the training floor.
Everyone stood inside the hexagonal design as made by the floor, but it was weaved in a way that if one stood, the person behind would leave one slot of hexagon and then stand in the next, so in order to be spaced out.
Delilah, meanwhile, continued,
"As I was saying, the board had said that no external weapon will be used except for that given to you by your Azrax as a linkage to you."
Simma had missed the earlier reaction to this rule since he was late; now the hall was silent, the weight of her words settling over them.
"And for those of you imagining you might slip in some hidden blade," her gaze swept the room, "know this: discovery will mean instant disqualification."
Sarah heaved a sigh as if those words were for her.
All she would have done was just go with a metal bangle and then change it with her powers into a sword, but then she would be compromised.
"Fuck these silly rules," she cursed, a touch of annoyance flickering in her eyes.
She had played once in the Wood Hint and failed, and so no one needed to tell her to listen to the rules as they came.
"Now," Delilah continued, "we will attempt the summoning exercise. I will demonstrate, and then I will leave you to train on it."
Everyone now paid utmost attention, because this was the very vital time.
"Alright," Delilah began,
"now, to summon your weapon, you have to stay connected with your echelon seal, first focusing on the part that will tell you about your weapon of your Within Beast."
She went on her voice denser and more compelling
"And as you do that, then you should be able to elaborate on that sigil and make it your want. Desiring it, not as an image in your mind, but as cold, weighty steel in your hand. Just have this feeling that you want to feel its solid nature, and also; Your will must be ironclad, unwavering, immune to fracture."
She calmed down and looked at their ready faces.
"Alright, if I count to three, then you dig in.
"One… two… three."
The room was now in pin-drop silence, like a ghost had just wrapped the moment with an intricate cold blanket. No sound came out for about three minutes, all eyes were closed in great anticipation, not until...
Fwoosh!
A radiant purple light appeared, staining the white, pristine bright colour of the place, as a double-edged sword materialized into someone's grip, gleaming, pure, and suffused with that same violet fire.
It was Sarah; she was the very first. As weapons began appearing all around: spears, hooks, hammers, nunchaku, each glowing with their wielder's essence. The sword remained the most prominent and the highest in number, their edges gleaming like fate itself.
Delilah's face held this proud grin on it. She walked to Sarah and said,
"You seem to have mastered your beast well."
Sarah smiled; surely the pride in her surpassed that in Delilah now. If not for one reason her head would have exploded with pride.
"Yeah," she replied, "thanks to my brother, he has been training me on it."
"Right," Delilah replied, as she turned to Simma, whose eyes were still closed but yet no weapon was in his hand.
She walked up to him, as heads turned towards Simma as well.
"Mr…"
"It's Simma, you know," Simma cut her off before she could finish, his voice not hiding the anger and frustration in them. He knew that the rest of her words would be 'nervous'.
She looked down for a brief moment, somewhat in embarrassment.
She blinked, recovering quickly. "Right. But you're not… participating."
Simma opened his eyes, and the normal charm and jovial expression they normally had were gone, replaced with something unsteady, dark, and… dangerous.
"You think I don't know that?" He replied, his voice rough, well, not like he was angry with Delilah, but the fact was that he was angry at himself.
This training was what he was doing with the strange man early that morning, and that was what made him come late, and yet he wasn't able to summon his weapon, just like he was not able to summon his Within Beast without rage.
And it was the one thing consuming him. What added to his anger was that the thing that seemed very simple for the rest was what he now found hard to do.
And also, Since that first, furious summoning of his sword, anger had clung to him like a parasite. He had been having these anger issues, that the least thing gets him angry within the flick of a finger.
Delilah noticed how estranged Simma was as she said,
"Mr…"
"I SAID IT'S SIMMA!" His voice thundered, and for an instant, his irises flashed a hellish red.
He drew a deep breath, straining his neck backwards, trying to dissolve that rage that was now building up due to the fact that he was frustrated.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
Delilah was surprised but yet had to keep her composure; she went on,
"You need to calm yourself down, otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it."
Simma chuckled evilly; his eyes held this expression Sarah had not seen or felt before, it was evil and looked as though he was broken.
"You don't know that," he replied, His gaze darkened as his voice cracked.
"This is so frustrating, and I know it shouldn't make me angry, but something in me always wants to be angry," his eyes turned wet at that instance, and everyone stared in horror, even Delilah didn't know what to say.
Simma looked around and saw all eyes were on him.
"Well, it's not like any of you would understand," he began, as the moisture in his eyes caught the light. The room was frozen, watching him unravel.
"Y'all have a nice, simple beast, probably nice and easy to tame, and probably you've got many people who also have that same beast that can help you learn how to tame it."
His voice faltered. The tear threatened to escape.
"But I'm all alone. Mine is the hardest and rarest, and also the most… the most…"
He paused, trying his best to hold back that tear that was too stubborn and wanted to fall out. He sniffled, and casting one final look at all of them.... but precisely at Delilah, he finalized,
"Not like any of you care."
And he walked away.