After all those "adventures," I return to my boarding house, with its creaky door, damp floor, and tiny bed. I left the swords with Ophy since my room is too small for anything, let alone two talking swords. I opened my phone, and messages blew it up. God knows how many angry messages from Donnie, probably a couple from my classmates. I left my phone on the desk and don't want to deal with any of it right now. I know I'll meet Lily again; she'll try to kill me again because I'm basically a good-for-nothing heretic that stole from her temple. How long does it take for her to get here from here? A couple days? Weeks, if I'm lucky, judging from my life? A couple of days.
I crashed down to my mattress and slept in bed for the first time in days. In the morning I forced myself to get ready and go to school. I decided to run to school since I left early and to get some training. Ophy said I'll have some training with P and D later in the afternoon as my futile effort to get stronger.
The morning breeze hit my face gently with only some people already on the street; some seemed surprised to see someone run in the morning, and some threw me some smiles that I replied to with a nod. It's not as bad as I thought it would be; my chest is not burnt, and my legs are not giving up after a couple minutes. After twenty minutes, give or take, I arrived at the school; it was already crowded, and I tried my best not to be seen.
I sit at my table at the back corner and try to calm my breath; some girls look shocked when I walk in drenched in sweat, and I probably smell like shit. Tomorrow I'll not run in my uniform; I'll run in my workout clothes and change into my uniform before my class begins.
The class is boring when you're stupid; I can't understand any lecture the teacher gives, so I keep my mouth shut. I'm trying my best at the test, and with some help from my classmates, I guess I'll graduate. That leaves me with the problem of staying alive, not at the tournament but outside of it. I opened some of the messages this morning, mostly from Donnie, that range from "where the hell are you?" to "don't bother to come in tomorrow." I'm effectively fired, so I need to find another part-time job that allows me to train too. Another graveyard shift essentially. But what kind of place will accept a high schooler? Most of them start right after school; that would have worked before, but now I have to train too. So my options are limited.
At break I decided just to walk around; I have to stretch my budget, and school lunch is just another thing I have to skip until I have a job. There are not many places in the school for a loner like me; most of my friends are at the cafeteria, a place that I cannot get into at the moment, so I decided to go to the swing in the school backyard. Sitting alone on the swing under the tree reminds me of someone who is broke and alone and has to be stronger just to survive. Maybe I too have a magical raccoon imprisoned in my body.
"Hey."
"Shit." I almost jumped out of the swing after a voice came from behind the tree. Thankfully it's not a ghost or something; it's Lena.
"Fancy seeing you without Mira."
"She has to retake the test. I can't be in the room with her, so here I am waiting for her." She explained.
"I guess you got the brain."
"She has a brain; she just is not very good at using it." Lena replied and walked closer, then she sat on the swing next to me. "I heard you made a lot of noise in Blacksand. Blowing up a temple."
"It's Sagittarius; he's the one who blows Cancer's temple." I defend myself. Lena doesn't seem to care much about the details and decides to start swinging.
"I thought all memories about riders got erased?"
"It does; that's why people just remember a weird guy they never saw before. The description matches you perfectly."
"Oh…"I guess you cannot completely erase every memory; people will have to remember something to make sense of what happened. Unfortunately for me, all they remember is me being a weird guy at their festival.
"Yeah, oh. What do you do in Blacksand anyway? You know that cancer country, right? The whole country worships her?"
"I…" I can't tell her I went to Blacksand to get Ophy's swords, even though I thought of aligning myself with her and Mira; I still don't know if I can trust her completely. There's only one winner at this tournament; sooner or later, I'll have to fight her.
"I have to get stronger."
"By blowing up a temple?" She asked. Wait, did she just throw a joke at me? I thought she was the serious one.
I looked at her to try to find a hint of a smile, but damn it, her poker face is too good. She continues to swing nonchalantly. What a kind of weird date we are having here.
"Lena!!" A scream cuts the silence between us because I can't think of a comeback. That scream is Mira's; she runs through the yard and stands in front of me and Lena. Before Mira can say anything, Lena jumps off the swing and takes Mira away; maybe she doesn't want Mira to get closer to me, or she has had enough of swinging.
I waved at Mira, and before she waved back, Lena stopped her and made her walk faster. Good talk, I guess.
My mind replayed the strange conversation with Lena throughout the rest of my classes. She was right; the city had forgotten the fight between me and Lily, Sagittarius himself, but the lingering "weird guy" was me. I don't know what else they remember, probably not much. I just hope they don't think it's me who blew up their temple or stole back the swords from their temple.
The bell rang, and I bolted from the classroom, not even bothering to say goodbye to the few classmates who gave me a weird look. My legs, still sore from the morning run, screamed in protest as I ran home, but I ignored them. I didn't want to give Deimos a reason to call me lazy.
When I arrived, Ophiuchus was waiting for me on the roof. He had set up a small training dummy made of what looked like hardened space-time fabric. Phobos and Deimos, still in their sheaths, lay on a nearby crate.
"Took you long enough," Deimos grumbled from inside his scabbard. "I thought you'd be here the second the bell rang."
"I have to eat and sleep, you know," I muttered, grabbing a bottle of water I had brought with me. "Not everyone can survive on cosmic energy and spite."
Ophy just smiled, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "He's right, you need to eat. But for now, let's get started. The Sagittarius Rider is a master of distance, and Cancer... Well, you saw what she can do. You need to learn how to fight them both. Close quarters and long range."
He nodded at the swords. I unsheathed them and held them in my hands. They felt lighter, almost like an extension of my arms.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked.
"Simple," Phobos said, her voice calmer than her brother's. "You're going to fight the dummy. We're going to tell you what to do, and you're going to do it. Don't think. Just act."
"Sounds easy enough," I said, a little too confidently.
"It's not," Deimos shot back. "We're not just going to tell you to swing around like a fool. We'll teach you how to fight, not just to win but to kill."
"That's…"
"Stop being a fool, Rei." Phobos cut me off. "Other riders will not hesitate to kill you; this is a death tournament, remember."
"Right, sorry." I replied.
"Stop being a wuss, stop apologizing, and start swinging." Deimos barked. He's right, I have to stop being a wuss; I'm a rider, forbidden or not, I'm still an avatar of a god.
Ophy stepped back, leaving me alone with the dummy and the two swords. My palms began to sweat as I gripped the hilts. This wasn't a game; it wasn't a show. This was a fight for survival; I have to survive long enough to punch those gods.
"Begin," Phobos commanded.
I charged forward, swinging Deimos in a wide arc. Deimos, however, seemed to have a different idea. It twisted in my hand, forcing me to shift my weight and strike with the flat of the blade. The dummy's head spun around, and I heard a muffled groan from inside.
"What was that?" I asked, confused.
"Wrong form," Phobos said. "You're not a brute, Rei. You're a Serpent. You have to be clever; you have to be cunning. You don't meet power with power. You meet it with grace and speed."
I tried again, swinging Phobos in a big arc, aiming for a clean cut to the torso. But before I could hit the dummy, Phobos pulled me in a different direction, forcing me to spin and use my momentum to strike the dummy's back.
"Stop trying to be a hero," Deimos's voice echoed in my head, a low chuckle. "You're not here to fight fair. You're here to survive."
For the next hour, I fought that dummy. I dodged attacks that weren't there, twisted my body into impossible positions, and swung the swords in ways that felt completely alien. Well, I'm not a trained swordsman, so everything felt alien to me; still, they don't care; I have to get it right. "Stop trying to be fancy," they said. "I have to be slick and fight dirty." They told me to forget about honor if I want to survive; this is real life, not some samurai movie.
Phobos and Deimos were relentless teachers, if I can call them that. They pushed me and screamed at me when I got it wrong, but they still sometimes even praised me when I got a movement right. They told me to channel my frustration with Donnie; that f&@*$r must be happy that I'm gone, my fear of dying, and my helplessness with Lily. They wanted me to use my emotions, to turn my weaknesses into strengths.
I was exhausted, my muscles were aching, and my breath became short. I fell to my knees, panting, as the two swords returned to their sheaths, their job done.
"You did well, kid," Deimos said, a hint of grudging respect in his tone. "You didn't break. You're a little slow, a little clumsy, but you have the heart of a Serpent."
"He's right," Phobos added. "You're not a hero, Rei. But you're a survivor. That's all that matters right now."
Ophy approached, a bottle of water in his hand. He knelt down and offered it to me. "They're right, Rei. You're not going to win this by being the strongest. You're going to win it by being the smartest. By being the most adaptable."
I took a long drink, the cool water a balm to my raw throat. I looked at the two swords, now silent in their sheaths. I had a lot to learn. A lot to lose.
But for the first time since this whole nightmare began, I felt a flicker of hope. I wasn't just a victim anymore. I was a player. And I was going to learn how to play this game.