From the author of the "Gun Princess Royale" series, comes the story of a young man gifted with great power, great responsibility, coerced by his primitive impulses, and cornered by his inability to say, No, to the beautiful girls that manipulate him for their own devious desires.

A shamelessly perverse high-school battle adventure, set in a galactic society where the Aventis – humans enhanced by the Symbiote – rule over Regular humans incompatible with the organism. A high-school sophomore with an unabashed appreciation for girls, boobs, and sexy lingerie discovers he belongs to a publicly derided yet secretly valued third class of humans, Familiars, and is later thrust into a skirmish between rival powers all while struggling to survive at a prestigious academy dominated by Aventis students who care little for his kind...or his shameless passions.

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Reflections – 0.
- # -

To this day, nobody knows what triggered the Cataclysm.

That’s what it came to be known, a word synonymous with both the massive trans-space shockwave, and the wholesale destruction that it caused.

That shockwave hit the mass shadows of planets, stars, and a host of other celestial bodies.

Anything with a substantial mass shadow that dimpled into the realm of trans-space was smashed to pieces.

If you were on a planet, there was nowhere to run.

The shockwave would shatter the world like a ball made of soft earth.

Even large starships weren’t spared.

Many of the super-liners and super-sized military fortresses perished when the trans-light shockwave struck their presence within trans-space.

Racing out from an epicenter near the center of humanity’s galactic civilization, the shockwave wiped out billions in the span of a day. Millions more died in the days that followed, as the intersystem civilization was brought to an end.

The Cataclysm brought a finale to humanity’s First Golden Age.

It set the stage for the survivors to lay the foundations for the Second Golden Age, and the remains of those scores of shattered worlds, moons and stars became the material that fueled the expansion of the Hurakan Nebula.

Nobody noticed when the Aventis appeared.

By the time they did, it was already too late.

They were everywhere and anywhere.

From the very beginning they had infiltrated the newly founded United Systems Alliance and the neighboring Coalition of System States.

The problem was that the Aventis looked just like us…because they were us.

That is to say, they were human but they were also something more.

They were hosts to the Symbiote, and it was the Symbiote that made the Aventis strong, fast, and hard to fight. Thus, despite their lack of numbers, they quickly overwhelmed humanity, or should I say, the Regulars.

So after a few years of struggling against the Aventis – categorized by the strain of their Symbiote into eight distinct clans known as Prides – humanity gave up and raised the white flag.

At least, that’s what history tells us. That’s what we’re taught in school. That’s what dramatic holovid re-enactments portray.

The truth is a little different.

The War of Supremacy wasn’t over in a flash. It lasted a decade and took place over hundreds of thousands of cubic light-years.

It was fought inch by inch, light-year by light-year, and the tide of battle only turned in favor of the Aventis late in the war with the aid of the Familiars and the vaunted Artifacts.

As the war progressed, the Alliance and Coalition united to form the Human Territories that subsequently became the Human Empire ruled by an empress with a heart of ice.

The Aventis fought under a single banner, preferring not to make claims of territory as the war dragged on.

That was two centuries ago.

It’s a history that’s a little different from what people know today.

I guess it can’t be helped. As the saying goes, history is decided by the victors, and they were Aventis.

Why they chose to rewrite history is a mystery to me. Even knowing what I know today, I can’t fathom their reasons. But in saying that, I still have a long road of discovery ahead of me, and my journey is far from complete.

However, more than two centuries after the Cataclysm, people had all but forgotten the point of going to war against these superior humans. And the truth was, the Prides only went to war to ensure their own survival, but afterwards they managed – dare I say ruled – humanity pretty well.
No wars. No conflicts. On the whole, a fairly stable economic and political environment, with humanity standing on a two rung ladder with the Aventis at the top, and the Regulars on the bottom.

Yet it wasn’t all bad for the Regulars.

It just wasn’t as good as it was for those that belonged to a Pride, with the Aventis having preferential treatment in business, education, sports, and pretty much everything else society had to offer.

However, the door to joining a Pride – to becoming an Aventis – wasn’t closed.

During their teenage years, a Regular human was tested for compatibility with one of the eight strains of Symbiote that uniquely characterized the eight Prides. Students were examined twice a year, and if they were found sufficiently compatible they would then become hosts to a Symbiote. They would join one of the Prides, and take their place in society as an Aventis.

Without giving away too much, my childhood friend, Haruka, became an Aventis halfway through our first year in high school.

Her body was found to be high compatibility with the Avenir Pride.
At that time, I was tested too but my results showed negative – I’m talking less than zero – compatibility with all of the eight strains of the Symbiote.

It’s like the damn things hated me as much as I hated them.

I had my reasons for hating them. Maybe I should say they were reasons for resenting them, and looking back I realize that I didn’t hate them, as much as deeply resent them. But I certainly blamed them for what happened to my family, and because of this I was happy to be left out of the Prides.

I just never figured I would fall into a third camp of the human species.

You see, one day I found out I wasn’t as Regular as I thought I was.

I was actually more like an aberration, but one of great value to the Prides, and I wasn’t the only anomaly around.

There were thousands like me in the colony alone, and hundreds more living in the Hurakan Nebula, and until I became one of them, I had no idea how important we anomalies were.

That is to say, I didn’t know how special we were.

And because we were special, I found myself in a grim situation – a nightmare – I had never dreamt possible.

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Before I get roasted, there are some things I need to say.

First. This is not TG, so it'll probably get banned or tossed out.

Secondly, some readers may recognize this series under its different, published, title.

Because of this, I need to explain that after a long hiatus, and an extended period of deep introspection, I decided not to abandon that series.
Instead, I've decided to re-release it under a new banner, with some minor yet very significant changes that I believe will make the story read better, as well as plug up more than a few plot holes that were big enough to drive a train through.

Why do this? Because this series is one of the first that I wrote three years ago, and it has a special, nostalgic place in my heart.
It's a fun series that doesn't try to take itself too seriously. Actually, it tries and fails. That's just the way it is. So it's the kind of story that can't be taken seriously.

I intend to release it on Amazon Kindle.
However, at this stage it will be free. Why? Well, because it's such a bizarre, crazy story of perverted teenage desires, and high schoolers without a clue, that who in there right mind would ever buy it?

And if you don't believe me, well, you'll soon understand what I mean.

Adios, Muchachos and Muchachas.

Intro (Part I)

– I –

(Caelum)

Class 1-D at Sanderson High School for Regulars.

Pharos Colony. Island Two. Habitat One.

Semester One – School Week Twenty.

Friday morning Homeroom Period.

Today was the big day – the final day of the school semester.

The mid-year break would start tomorrow, Saturday.

Needless to say my classmates and I were all looking forward to our measly five week break before starting Semester Two.

But today was also the day our compatibility results were electronically mailed to us.

Today I would find out once again how dismally suited I was as a host to the eight strains of the Symbiote, and like the six other occasions in the past when the results had come in, it was a day I hardly cared for.

The school’s students had been tested en masse at the beginning of the week, right after final semester exams had ended. Since then the data was collated, analyzed, and the results reported back to us and to our parents. Thus, the Regular students at the school I attended would learn if they made the cut or they didn’t.

That is, they would learn if they would stay Regular or join the Aventis.

I really wasn’t interested in being compatible with the Symbiote.

I had no love for the Prides, and I had no love for the Aventis.

I hated them, though my hatred has waxed and waned over the years, despite the most recent tragedy in my life.

Even so, perhaps hate is too strong a word.

Contempt was more fitting. A very cold and severe contempt.

I had contempt for the privileged Aventis that were fortunate enough to become hosts for the Symbiote and rake in the benefits of harboring the thread-like organism in their bodies.

Fifteen minutes before the end of homeroom, the teacher finally gave my classmates and I permission to open up our results. Our esteemed Regular teacher dutifully informed us that our parents and guardians had been informed of our results, but right now it was our turn to find out whether or not we joined the privileged echelons of our society.

Not caring, I accessed my results through the Smart-Desk’s mail application.

I read it, and then closed the file.

I wasn’t surprised to see a whopping zero mark on the compatibility scale across all the Symbiote strains.

I looked around my classroom, smiling deceptively at my classroom friends, all the while wondering if anyone else had scored as poorly as I did.

Many of my classmates were sharing their results with others.

It was a mixed bag of expressions all around.

I saw a few smiles on the faces of the boys, and some of the girls were forming clusters as they revealed their successes to each other.

However, the vast majority sat in disappointment and glared in envy at their more fortunate counterparts that numbered little more than two handfuls. But if you considered a handful of lucky students in each class, spread across a number of school years, the total would amount to a sizeable catch for the Aventis. Taking into account all nineteen schools for Regulars within Pharos – the preposterously large asteroid colony floating a handful of light-years within the Hurakan Nebula – then those numbers were clearly more than just a drop in the ocean, and from what I’d read in the news reports, every year an average of two thousand teenage students living in Pharos joined the ruling Aventis class.

I turned in my chair and peeked over my shoulder at a spot in the room that held special meaning to me.

I noticed a cluster of girls had congregated around one table in particular.

Sitting at that table was a girl of slender, yet generous endowment, especially for someone of her age. She had long, auburn hair that fell in lustrous waves down her shoulders and back. True to her nature, she wore a polite, cheerful smile as she looked up at the female classmates congratulating her.

In that moment…my world sank.

I knew that I would no longer share in failure with the one most precious to me.

A heartbeat later and her eyes met mine.

For a heartbeat her smile wavered, and I saw regret flash across her face, before she turned away and resumed smiling happily up at her friends.

I turned back to my desk, and waited for the homeroom bell to sound.

We were then expected to attend the closing assembly to mark the end of the school’s semester.

It was a struggle to hold myself back from punching a hole in the middle of the Smart-Desk’s tactile responsive screen.

It was a struggle not to throw the whole desk out the window.

– II –
(Caprice)

Island Three. Habitat One.

Galatea Academy.

Class 1A.

Minutes before homeroom, my palm-slate vibrated and rang.

I was sitting at my Smart-Desk at the back of the classroom.

It was where Familiars like I were normally segregated to.

That is to say, by keeping me at the back, I was out of sight – thereby more like to be out of mind – of my Aventis classmates who preferred not knowing that I was sharing the classroom with them.

I’d like to say that I was inured to such treatment, but I wasn’t.

But my skin had grown thicker over the past twenty weeks since I came to attend high school at the prestigious academy.

As I was saying, I was sitting by my lonesome at the back of the classroom, waiting for homeroom to start, reading on my palm-slate a black-and-white comic – yes, a manga – about an average high school girl who attracts the attention of the coolest guy in her year. These kinds of stories were a dime a dozen, but I enjoyed all of them.

Abruptly, my palm-slate vibrated and rang softly.

The caller-ID said it was Arisa, my Guardian appointed to me by the Primogen of the Lanfear Pride that I was affiliated with.

I wondered why she was calling so early in the morning.

“Hello?” I asked without inflection.

“Ah, you answered your phone.”

“Why wouldn’t I answer my phone?”

“You could have been indisposed.”

I sighed. “What do you want?”

“Is that any way to talk to your Guardian?”

“What do you want, Lady Arisa?” I asked in monotone.

“Somehow that doesn’t sound respectful at all. Well, never mind. Caprice, listen carefully. I’m in a bit of a bind.”

“A bind?”

“Yes. I need your help.”

“My help? With what?”

“You know that boy I was telling you about? That one with the promising results.”

My heart skipped a beat as I remembered the file Arisa had shown me on a rather good looking, high school boy. The recent colony wide tests conducted on students had revealed he possessed a compatibility with the Lanfear Symbiote that went through the roof. “Yes, I remember.”

“I need you to pay him a visit.”

My heart skipped another beat. “Me…? Why…?”

“Because I’m in a bind and I can’t get to see him until later today.”

Feeling my heart thump in my chest, I asked, “Why do I have to see him? Isn’t there anyone else you can send?”

“Nope. You’re the best choice. For now, that is.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you’re a pretty girl. And he has a weakness for pretty girls.”

I realized she was making me blush but there was nothing I could do to stop it. Involuntary response, and all that jazz.

“Oh, but make sure you were a padded bra.”

“Huh?”

“And mature underwear.”

I shot to my feet, making my chair clatter. “What?”

My outcry attracted reproachful looks from my Aventis classmates. However, I ignored them.

“Why do I have to do that?”

“First impressions, Caprice. First impressions. It’s important that you gain his attention and keep it. You need to make a good impression as a representative of the Lanfear Pride.”

I lowered my voice. “By wearing mature underwear?”

“Actually, I meant sexy underwear.”

I started to grind my teeth. “I’m not doing it.”

“Name your price.”

“Geh!” I wanted to toss the palm-slate away, then reconsidered. “I’ll do it on one condition.”

“What would that be?”

“I get to use your Black Card for a one day shopping spree.”

That Black Card was a special card with a bottomless limit credit limit.

It was a privilege of the filthy rich, and Arisa Imreh Lanfear was indeed filthy rich – at least her family was.

There was noticeable moment of silence on the line. “Very well. A one day shopping spree.”

I smiled to myself. “Fine. When do I have to see him?”

“Can you duck out a little early? You’ll need to head to Island Two, Habitat One. Try to catch him as he’s leaving the school after closing ceremonies.”

I winced inwardly.

Galatea Academy too had closing ceremonies for the semester.

I would have to skip the assembly. But even if I did so, I couldn’t leave out through the school gates as I’d be stopped by the security bots.

I sat back down and further lowered my voice. “Arisa, I’ll have to use Brynhildr to get me over the school wall. Do I have your permission to use her?”

“Very well. Try not to be seen. Oh, and one more thing.”

“What…?”

“Do you still have that vial of my blood I gave you?”

“I do. I tossed it into Brynhildr’s Sarcophagus.”

“Good. Good.”

I frowned to myself, wondering why she’d asked.

“Well then. Best of luck. Keep me informed. Let me know how it all goes. Give me a call if you need to. And make sure you get to him before he leaves the school grounds.”

My frown deepened, but I nodded faintly though it was unnecessary. “Okay.”

“Then I’m off. Classes to attend. Overdue assignments to submit. University life is such a bitch. Talk to you later.”

Arisa ended the call.

My palm-slate notified me of a message received.

I opened it and discovered it was the boy’s dossier that had been redacted in many places.

After reading the address for the school he attended, I used an online app to plot the best route for me to follow. It included which mag-lev line I should catch, as well as the time I should board the train, and gave me an estimated time of arrival at Sanderson High School.

If the app was to be believed, I would need to escape Galatea Academy before the school assembly started.

My Aventis classmates made it a habit to ignore me.

I hoped that would play in my favor when I slipped out of school.

– III –
(Caelum)

I walked to the school assembly on autopiloted, and afterwards returned to my class’s homeroom pretty much the same way.

My interaction with my classmates was more or less the same, and I felt like I was responding to them while wearing a mask over my true emotions. But I also felt that everything I did was an autonomous response to exterior input, without real conscious thought.

In other words, I’d allowed the instinctive reactionary part of my brain to take over.

I drifted through the homeroom period, and afterwards – once our teacher had dismissed us with the usual warning to be on our best behavior – I grabbed my belongings and wandered out of the classroom in search of a place of solitude.

That place was the rooftop courtyard where students normally ate their lunches.

Surprisingly, the door to the courtyard was unlocked.

Stepping onto the courtyard, I’d half expected to find students there, but instead saw that it was deserted.

With my carry-bag on my shoulder, I walked across the open ground and approached the fencing running along the northern side of the courtyard.

I dropped my bag to the ground beside my feet, and looked out at the sprawling habitat stretched before me, and was once again I was reminded that I was living inside a rock.

It was one rock out of five rocks, with the largest one surrounded by its four smaller kin, and together they were Pharos Colony – a rock oasis within the edge of an immense cloud of dust and debris, the Hurakan Nebula, itself a testament to the wholesale destruction committed by the trans-space shockwave that heralded the Cataclysm.

Standing behind the mesh fencing, I could see the school, the habitat, and its buildings stretch out for two kilometers into the distance. The rock ceiling overhead was hidden behind an optical field that mimicked a partly sunny day. There was even a breeze blowing strongly, courtesy of the habitat’s life support systems.

The nine-foot tall wire fencing that surrounded the building’s rooftop was the only thing preventing me from taking a dive into the school’s central courtyard below.

I stared at the scene before me, then closed my eyes for a long moment, until I heard the door of the rooftop hut that provided access to the courtyard open up and a girl’s voice called out to me.

“Caelum?”

I kept my eye closed, and bowed my head forward, resting my forehead on the fencing.

Haruka’s voice reached out to me.

“Caelum, what are you doing up here?”

With moving the rest of my body, I turned my head and faced her, though it was awkward.

The rest of my body continued to lean forward, and I raised my arms to brace myself against the fence.

“Why are you here, Haruka?” I answered her question with a question.

She walked across the courtyard, stepping past benches and tables, and stopped about a dozen feet away from me.

“I thought you might want to talk.”

I frowned at her. “To talk? About what?”

Haruka swallowed quietly. “To talk about the results.”

“What do you want me to say?” I wiped away the frown from my face, and quickly gave her a cheery smile. “Oh, sorry. I should say congratulations shouldn’t I?”

She gave me a trouble look.

Actually, she’d been looking troubled ever since she arrived at the rooftop.

If she was going to act this way around me, I would have preferred she hadn’t followed me up here.

Haruka Amiella started to glance every which way but in the direction I was standing.

I was starting to grow annoyed with her behavior, which was quite different from the way she’d behaved in front of her congratulatory classmates.

No, I was already annoyed which was making it hard for me to keep up the act of an understanding childhood friend.

Yet somehow I forced a bit more cheer into my smile, as I turned my body and leaned my back against the fence. “I bet your folks were happy to have their only daughter join a Pride.”

“Caelum…please…don’t be this way.”

“Huh?”

“Tell me the truth. We’ve been friends for so long—”

“I am telling you the truth. I’m happy for you. You finally get your wish. You’ll be joining an Aventis Pride. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

“I wanted both of us to be chosen—”

“Well, it didn’t turn out that way.” I shrugged. “Who knows, maybe things will change in the future. I still have three years before I’m crossed off their list.”

True. Though it was rare for anyone beyond the age of nineteen to be accepted into a Pride, it did happen. However, if the Symbiote didn’t find you worthy afterwards, chances were it never would.

A sudden thought crossed my mind with a possibility I’d not considered though I must have been aware of it.

I gave the thought a voice, keeping my tone blithe, but somewhere deep within I felt a trickle of unease, as though I feared I was jinxing myself for even mentioning it.

“Well, even if I’m not chosen as an Aventis, I might end up being one of the other kind.”

Haruka’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “You don’t mean—”

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, one of those Familiars.” I held down a shiver. “Wouldn’t that be a laugh? The Symbiote does seem to hate me, and my score is always zero. It’d be real funny if I turned out to be one of those.”

Familiars were anomalies. They existed everywhere, and Pharos was no exception.

Everyone knew about them.

The Aventis regarded them with disdain and contempt, though I suspected Familiars frightened them as well.

Regulars considered them aberrations that couldn’t decide whether they were Regular or Aventis.

I’d seen them around, and while I’d never settled on how I truly felt about them, thinking of them brought back painful memories. That was because Familiars were present at the dock when my parents died. They were there guarding the Aventis waiting for the damned freighter to dock. And they were there protecting the Aventis conducting the investigation after the freighter exploded.

They kept the Aventis alive, shielding them with their Artifacts.

Yet for all their power, they couldn’t protect my parents.

It was Familiars that escorted Celica and I to the dock so that we could see the devastation for ourselves.

And it was Familiars that stood guard while the representatives of the Avenir Pride expressed their condolences to my sister and I.

I still remembered the way they looked, the way they were dressed in tight form fitting coats over black on black skinsuits.

Austere, menacing, even a little dangerous.

Neither Aventis nor Regular.

Something caught in between the two extremes.

I swallowed hard, and glanced away.

I didn’t want to remember that day, or any of the days that followed.

I drowned the memory deep into the recesses of my mind, like I did time and again whenever it resurfaced.

Then I gave my true feelings the chance to be heard. “I’d rather I was never chosen. I’d rather stay Regular for the rest of my life. It’s the only way I won’t have anything to do with their kind.”

Haruka sounded relieved. “Now you’re finally being honest.”

I wasn’t going to be baited. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to talk about you. Isn’t that why you called me up here?”

Haruka released a heavy sigh.

She seemed disappointed in my response, so I pressed on.

“I am happy for you, Haruka. I really am. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you now. So many doors are going to open for you. The Pride will push you to get the best out of you, but I’m sure you’ll be up to the task. You’ll make a great Aventis, and you’ll make the Avenir Pride proud.”

She gave me a pained look this time. “You make it sound like I’m going off to magic school or something—like we’ll never talk to each other again.”

“There’s a gap between Aventis and Regulars. You know this. You haven’t been living a sheltered life.”

“I don’t plan to change who I am just because of the Symbiote.”

“Sorry. But everyone knows that in this corner of the galaxy where the Aventis rule, if you’re a member of a Pride you get preferential treatment. That puts you one rung above the Regulars.”

“I had nothing to do with that.”

“I’m not saying you did. It’s just the way things work since the Aventis won, and Regulars like us lost—sorry, I meant Regulars like me. You’re not going to be Regular for very long.”

She seemed at odds with what to say.

I struggled to keep the cheer in my voice and on my face. “What’s with the troubled look? Why do you look like you’re the one with the most to lose? After all, you’re going to be leaving me behind.”

There, I’d finally said it.

Haruka blanched, and she started to wring her hands.

Seeing her like this, something snapped inside me.

My heart felt like it was being crushed and my hearing was drowning in the sound of blood rushing past my ears.

Yet through it all I heard a voice, shouting at me through the din of rushing blood, urging me to finally voice what I’d held back for years now.

It was now or never, and time to tell her the truth. There were no second chances.

“Haruka, I think it’s time we said goodbye.”

If she was pale before, she turned white in a heartbeat.

“Wh—what?”

I swallowed, and realized what I’d just said.

My subconscious had made the choice for me.

It was either the biggest mistake of my life, or the most selfless decision I’d ever undertaken.

I realized what it was I wanted the most.

No, it wasn’t what I wanted but what I’d decided was the best choice to make.

I needed to set her free.

I swallowed down past the growing lump in my throat.

“I said it’s time we said goodbye.”

A sob escaped her lips.

I watched the first tears well up in her eyes then slide down her cheeks.

She swallowed and asked, “Why?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“No, I don’t. I have absolutely no idea!”

“You’re going to be an Aventis, a member of one of the eight Prides.”

“So?”

I sighed. “Aventis and Regulars like me don’t mix.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Sorry, but it is the truth.”

I watched her tears continue to trickle. I felt like my innards were being burned. But there’s no avoiding the truth. It bites like Hell and worse when it comes between you and someone you really care about.

Damn it. I had to get this over with before I lost it.

“Haruka, you and I were never that close, so it’s not like we’re breaking up. We’re just…saying goodbye to an old friendship.”

“How can you say it like that? How can you sound so freakishly reasonable? Do you know how much this is tearing me up inside?”

“You’ll get over it. You’ll attend one of the five academies in Pharos for the Aventis, and you’ll make new friends—Aventis friends—and you’ll find someone ‘special’ over there. Pretty soon, you’ll be right as rain again. You’ll forget all about me and start anew.”

“Are you doing this to make me hate you? To make it easier for me to leave? And why do we even have to do this?”

“I’m doing this for me.”

“What?”

I smiled at her, and this time I meant it. “Haruka, you know how much I hate the Prides.”

She pressed her mouth into a thin bloodless line.

I added for good measure, “If I say goodbye now, before you become an Aventis, it’ll be easier for me. I won’t hate you as much.”

I meant that too.

Once the Haruka before me became one of them, I wouldn’t see her as Haruka anymore.

I pushed away from the fence and swung my arms, working the stiffness out of my shoulders.

“So, Haruka. This is goodbye. I’ll miss you, but I’ll get over you.”

I bowed to her formally.

“Thank you…for taking care of me all these years.”

When I straightened I saw some color had returned to her face, but she looked ashen. She swallowed a number of times, before wiping away her tears with the back of a hand.

Then she laughed bitterly. “I see. You were always like this. Always choosing to bear everything even if it made you the villain. I really was right about you. Since there’s no easy way for this to happen, you chose to make yourself the bastard of the play.”

“No. I just want to forget about you as soon as possible.”

Now she looked distraught.

I smiled nonchalantly, shoved my hands into my school trouser pockets, then felt my palm-slate in one of them. An idea came to mind so I pulled out the palm-slate. Calling up the screen that listed my contacts, I held it up for her to see. I made sure the voice command recognition was turned on.

“Contact listing, Haruka Amiella…delete.”

“Confirm delete,” my palm-slate requested.

“Confirmed.”

I heard a chime and knew the deed was done.

Her horrified look deepened before her expression turned hard and cold over the span of many seconds. Then she took out her palm-slate and held it up for me to see.

“Contact listing, Caelum Desanto…delete.”

“Confirm delete,” her palm-slate requested.

“Co…con…conf….”

Her hand trembled so much the screen was leaving afterimages in my eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Go on. You can do it.”

“Shut up!” she screamed. “Just shut the Hell up!”

She gripped the palm-slate in both hands but her fingers shook badly and wouldn’t go near the screen.

“Haruka, you’re making this much harder than it has to be.”

“Go to Hell! I hate you!”

She turned and ran away, squeezing through the gap between rooftop structures that made this the secluded spot it was.

I stared at the empty space she left behind.

“That’s my girl. You never disappoint. So easy to manipulate.”

I looked down at my palm-slate.

“I wonder if I should delete all those photos and videos of us together?”

I was busy mulling that for a while when I noticed the palm-slate’s screen was wet. I wiped it dry but more drops landed on it.

“Huh?”

I looked up at the habitat’s sky. Still partly sunny. No sign of rain. Hell, it never rains inside a habitat.

Then I noticed it was hard to see. My vision was blurred.

I wiped at my eyes and my fingers came away wet.

I studied them for a while.

“Well I’ll be. I guess I haven’t forgotten how to cry.” I laughed softly. “You hear that Celica, I guess I couldn’t keep my promise to you after all.”

A simple promise.

To cry for our parents, to cry for family, and no one else.

Well, I had no one else to cry over now.

Yet I was crying over Haruka.

I shuffled over to the fence. The wet clouds in my eyes were making it hard to see the school buildings ahead of me, and the habitat skyline beyond it.

I shoved the palm-slate into my pocket before I could accidentally drop it.

I didn’t bother wiping my face.

Big boys don’t cry, Celica used to say.

Bloody smart thing to say to a ten year old about to turn eleven who’d just lost his parents.

“Gods damn it…I miss you…Celica.”

I bowed my head and squeezed my eyes shut.

“Why…why did it have to be her? Why Haruka? Why Haruka?”

Why the Hell was she chosen? Why was her body compatible with the Symbiote? Why did the Prides take everything and everyone that was dear to me?

I hated them.

I blamed them for my parents’ deaths.

I blamed them for my sister’s death.

Why did we Regulars have to be so subservient to them?

Why did we have to sacrifice so much and yet they didn’t?

My fingers bent the wire fencing into an unrecognizable tangle.

I held onto it, and hung against it for a long time. Even after the school bell sounded signaling the end to the lunch break, I still clung to the fence and refused to move.

I had no intention of walking back to class.

I would accept the detention this would garner me, but I wasn’t in any state to sit through afternoon lessons.

Around me, the school grounds quickly grew quiet as students ambled, shuffled, or straggled out onto the surrounding sidewalks.

Beyond the grounds, I could hear the sounds of the habitat city.

I squeezed my fingers around the fencing loops, and clenched my teeth for a long, painful moment.

“Damn it…what the Hell have I done…?”

---

Posting a few segments at a time. Part II of the Intro will be next. If you want more, let me know. If you hate, let me know.

Best wishes to you all.

Reflections – I.

When the Cataclysm ripped the galaxy apart for a radius of fifty three light years, it left behind the Hurakan Nebula.

Basically, the nebula formed from the remains of numerous planets, moons, and stars blown to bits by the trans-light shockwave.

That was more than two centuries ago.

Two hundred and thirty seven years to be exact.

Twenty years later, humanity had picked up the pieces and put together two spheres of political influence.

But then the Aventis were exposed and all Hell broke loose between them and the Regulars.

This Hell came to be known as the War of Supremacy.

The Regulars lost the war, the Aventis won, and peace settled upon the remains of human civilization in one little corner of the galaxy.

Then the Prides initiated the Pharos Project which was to build a colony within the edge of the Hurakan Nebula, and for this colony to serve as a harbor, a safe haven, for the thousands of starships plundering the nebula.

It took forty years to build. First, asteroids of sufficient size had to be found, taken from the debris that remained after numerous planets and moons were smashed to pieces by the Cataclysm. Today, we call these asteroids The Islands.

There are five Islands tied together by powerful effect-fields, and numerous cables as thick as inter-habitat buses.

Giant caverns more than a dozen kilometers long were scooped out from inside each of the rock islands. These came to be known as the Habitats. Immense tunnels connected the habitats within an island, allowing people to commute between them. However, pressurized and atmospherically sealed trains ran between the Islands, transporting hundreds of passengers at a time.

A hundred years after the start of the project to create Pharos, the asteroid colony is the largest port-of-call in the Hurakan Nebula, and a vital point in the shipping trade as thousands of starship pass through it on their way in and out of the nebula.

I was ten when my parents died.

They were killed in an explosion set off in the largest starship dock Pharos had to offer, the Harbor Sphere of Island One – a massive empty sphere six kilometers wide, with a hundred docks and berths cut into its rock wall.

My parents worked for a shipping company as dockside managers.

That day a bomb was triggered inside a super freighter that had just pulled into the dock.

The vessel went boom.

The dock went boom.

My parents and hundreds of others died in an instant.

Thousands more were scarred for life, both physically and mentally.

It was a week before the day Pharos was due to celebrate its centenary.

As historians would call it, it was a Day of Infamy – a centenary marked in blood.

The ones responsible for the explosion announced their existence to the people of Pharos.

They declared their opposition to the Prides and thereby to the Aventis.

Sharing a common cause, they had banded together to form an organization.

The name of this organization…was Crimson Crescent.
 

---

Note: in the finished manuscripts, the Reflections interleave the chapters. But they're out of order here. Sorry.

Intro – II.
– I –
(Haruka)

My chest hurt so much I could hardly breathe.

I stumbled my way down the stairs, and after wiping away my tears, I hurried down the hallways.

To a great extent I was moving on instinct.

It was my body that remembered the way, and my feet that carried me to my classroom.

So as I turned into the open doorway, I wasn’t really seeing where I was going.

I bumped shoulders with a girl that was leaving.

On reflex, I apologized to her, and noticed through my moist eyes that she was a brunette with shoulder length black hair, and large expressive eyes.

She was shorter than I was, and nowhere near as top heavy.

The girl didn’t apologize back, but she did stop and regard me for a moment.

Then she pulled out a palm-slate from a skirt pocket, tapped the display a few times to call up what appeared to be the map of a building, and then wordlessly resumed walking out of the classroom.

Even in my emotionally addled state, I felt something odd from her.

I felt as though she’d recognized me, though I had no recollection of her.

Then I dismissed my unease because she was wearing our school’s uniform, and with our school being as big as it was, it was possible she knew of me yet I was unaware of her.

Walking to my Smart-Desk where I’d left my carry-bag and belongings, I noticed a few of my classmates clustered around it. At sight of me, they looked concerned, and being girls they intuitively put two-and-two together and realized that things between Caelum and I hadn’t gone well.

I told them the truth – I didn’t feel like lying – and then I broke down in tears again.

It was a while before I recovered, and a while longer before I made my way home, leaving the classroom with the girls escorting me in a show of solidarity.

In their eyes, what Caelum had done put him firmly in the den of scum.

I didn’t feel that way – not entirely – because I understood him better than they did, but I was in no condition to argue back in his defense.

I probably would have lost their support had I done so, and for the moment I needed their shoulders to lean on.

At the shoe lockers on the ground floor, I swapped out my indoor shoes for my outdoor ones.

One of my classmates, Miata, called out to me. “Hey, Haruka. Did you know that girl who bumped into you?”

“No. Why?”

“Hmm. I guess it’s nothing. But….”

“But what?”

“She was looking for Desanto.”

I frowned at Miata who toyed with her hair.

She looked slightly nervous, and when I glanced at the other girls joining me, I noticed they were curious.

“She seemed weird,” said Brianna, a brunette with a chest off equal caliber to mine. “Gave off this mission vibe. You know what I mean?”

I tried hard not to frown at her.

Obviously not, was what I wanted to say.

“She was wearing a first-year pin, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before,” petite Shiori remarked half to herself, half to the rest of us.

Indeed our school was big, but given enough students, surely someone had encountered that girl before, especially if she was a first-year like us.

Robyn, a girl with flaxen hair and cheeks smattered with freckles, looked uneasy. “If she was from our school, why was she walking around with a map?”

For a moment, a single heartbeat, I debated running back up to the rooftop courtyard.

But then my chest tightened and my feet wouldn’t move.

I couldn’t bring myself to seeing him again, not while the heartache was still fresh.

So I abandoned the idea.

When I finally relaxed enough to breathe easier, I said, “No, I’ve never seen her before. Don’t know why she would be looking for Caelum.”

After a breath, I added, “Not my problem. Not anymore.”

Whomever that girl was, she wasn’t my concern.

Caelum was Caelum with his own life to live.

He’d cut his ties to me, and though it hurt, I would respect his decision.

Thus with that resolution firmly in heart and mind, I headed for the building’s exit in the company of my classmates who dropped the subject of the unknown girl in a heartbeat, and moved onto the topic of ice cream and parfaits.

Walking with them to the school’s south gate, listening to them listing all the sweets they intended to order.

Apparently they had decided to cheer me up – and congratulate me – with an all-expenses paid trip to the nearest cake shop.

Maybe a sugar rush was the temporary relief I needed to get me through the afternoon. I’d deal with a night of crying into my pillow later when I arrived home.

A slender girl in an unfamiliar uniform loitered at the wide gate. She was standing outside the school grounds with a palm-slate in hand, her attention darting between the device and the faces of the school boys that walked by. I had the impression she was looking for someone, undoubtedly a boy since she was paying them close attention, while drawing a fair amount of interest from the boys. That was understandable since she was quite pretty, with long raven hair, and almond shaped green eyes. Her body was slender, and sleek, toned legs stretched out to the ground from beneath her short skirt.

I couldn’t help noticing the golden anklets she wore, attracting attention to her slim ankles, and well-proportioned feet.

With her heart shaped face and smooth skin, she looked like an exquisite, exotic doll.

For several seconds, I felt distinctly challenged by her. I knew that I was no slouch in the looks department, but this girl had something on me that I simply couldn’t match.

However, there was one aspect where I had her totally beat.

As beautiful as she was, this girl had no bust.

Yep, she was as flat as a board.

No wind resistance to mention.

Feeling better about myself, I hitched my carry-bag’s straps higher onto the crook of my right shoulder, and pushed out my chest as I walked by her on my way out of the school grounds.

As I did so, I spared her palm-slate a long look, and my heart jumped forcefully in my chest.

All of a sudden I forgot all about being competitive, and all about my heartache.

Even at a distance, I recognized the boy’s face on the slate’s display.

Even at a distance, I knew it was Caelum she was looking for.

Two girls looking for Caelum Desanto in one afternoon?

Something was seriously afoot.

My feet had carried me past her for a couple of yards.

Turning around, I walked back to the girl, though you could say I strode up to her.

She blinked upon noticing me, and discreetly hid the palm-slate in a skirt pocket.

Too little, too late as far as I was concerned.

Staring at her hard, I spoke bluntly, “Who are you?”

The girl regarded me impassively with her beautiful green eyes but didn’t reply.

I became annoyed. “I asked, who are you?”

When she did reply, her words were delivered without inflection. She didn’t just look like a doll. She sounded like one. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because I want to know why you have Caelum’s photo.”

Her eyes blinked slowly but I noticed them widen just a little. “You know Caelum Desanto? Are you a classmate of his?”

In contrast, I narrowed my eyes at her. “Who wants to know?”

“Do you know where I can find him?”

The girl’s flat tone was unsettling me.

“I’m not telling you until you give me a proper answer,” I countered as I stood before her. “Who are you? What do you want with Caelum?”

My classmates had doubled back and now faced the girl as well.

“Hey, I know that uniform,” Miata said. “You’re from Galatea Academy.”

“Oh, she must be an Aventis,” Robyn opinioned.

“Well, obviously,” Miata said sarcastically. “Galatea Academy only has Aventis students.”

“No, Familiars attend it as well,” Brianna corrected.

“Who cares,” Miata cried out.

“That’s a nice uniform,” Shiori remarked approvingly.

“More like a posh uniform,” Brianna added.

I studied the girl who in turn was regarding my friends with keen eyes though her expression remained unreadable. “Why are you looking for Caelum?” I asked her.

“That’s a personal question. I’m not at liberty to say,” she answered flatly.

“Then I’m not going to tell you where to find him,” I replied brusquely.

The girl nodded. “Okay.” Then she pulled out her palm-slate and brought up Caelum’s photo onto its display surface. “Excuse me,” she bade us as she circled around my friends and I.

But I intercepted her and crossed my arms under my big breasts. “Not so fast.”

The girl showed the first signs of irritation. “If you are not going to assist me, then please don’t get in my way.”

Robyn asked, “Are you his girlfriend?”

My heart felt like it was being painfully squeezed, while the girl stopped blinking and grew still.

For some reason, seeing her blush while looking expressionless irritated me beyond the shock of Robyn’s words.

“His girlfriend?” she asked. Abruptly thoughtful, she looked down at Caelum’s image on her palm-slate. “His girlfriend...I wonder….”

Now I was truly irritated.

“You? His girlfriend? Over my dead body,” I declared.

“Why?” she asked unexpectedly. “Are you his girlfriend?”

Flustered by her impromptu counter, I floundered for a reply. “Caelum is my friend. That’s all. We’re just childhood friends.” I pointed at her. “And as his childhood friend, it’s my duty to keep him safe from strange girls.”

Miata gave me a puzzled look. “But didn’t you say you’d cut ties with him?”

I shot her a sidelong glare. “He cut ties with me. I didn’t cut ties with him.”

Shiori quietly muttered, “Isn’t it weird for two girls to be looking for him in one day?”

“Maybe he did something to them and now they’re hunting him down?” Brianna suggested while shrugging a shoulder. “I mean, he is a pervert.”

I sensed it then, a sudden change in the girl with emerald eyes.

Looking at her, it was clear she’d heard something interesting.

She stared fixedly at Shiori with unblinking eyes. “Did you say another girl was looking for him?”

Shiori hesitated before nodding.

The girl turned her attention to the school, but then she abruptly looked up.

It was my first time seeing her frown, so I followed her line of sight.

There was nothing up in the overhead sky but the ubiquitous donut shaped Enforcer drones flying on patrol.

I looked back down to question her, but the girl abruptly darted past me into the school with surprising speed, and this time I was helpless to stop her.

“Hey,” I called out to her.

Ignoring me, she pulled out her palm-slate as she ran toward the school building’s entrance, then jumped the ten steps up to the glass doors in a single bound.

A heartbeat later she had disappeared into the school building.

I stood still in shock over what I’d witnessed.

So too my classmates.

“Wow…,” Miata exclaimed.

“Did we just see that?” Robyn asked.

“That’s the power of the Aventis,” Briana replied dejectedly.

“Haruka, are you going to be able to do that too?” Shiori asked.

“I’m jealous of you,” Briana said, sounding even more dejected.

I swallowed, not knowing what to say, and looked back up at the sky over the school building.

Then I realized what had caught the girl’s attention.

A lone donut shaped drone with Enforcer markings hovered over the school.

It was motionless above the rooftop courtyard that was the setting for my parting of ways with Caelum.

I told myself it was just a co-incidence, but I couldn’t convince myself.

Uneasy, I started walking back to the school building’s entrance.

Just before climbing the steps, I glanced skyward one more time.

The drone continued hovering on the spot.

I pushed the entrance’s glass doors and hurried into the school.

– II –
(Caelum)

I didn’t notice the drone until several minutes after Haruka had left me alone on the rooftop courtyard.

Sitting on the ground, with my back to the fencing, I had looked up to see the Enforcer drone watching me from on high.

I guessed it to be around three feet in diameter, hovering about 50 or 60 feet above the rooftop.

A minute went by, and then another, yet the drone continued in place.

By then my curiosity had turned into outright worry.

I stood up and picked up my carry-bag, intending to vacate the rooftop.

At that moment, the door to the rooftop opened, and a girl I didn’t recognize stepped out onto the courtyard.

Her gaze swept over the place, before settling on me.

She was fairly pretty, with nicely toned calves and thighs from below her skirt that seemed quite a bit shorter than normal. I can say this because she was wearing a female uniform from Sanderson High that no doubt had been altered. Up top she was in the modest bracket, but overall, she was a solid seven point five out of ten.

I stood still, wondering what she was doing up here.

The fact that she was looking at me intently was both a cause for concern, and an opportunity to take my mind of Haruka.

“Hello there,” I called out to her, slinging the straps of my carry-bag over my right shoulder. “Looking for someone?”

“Yes.” Her reply was light and easily forthcoming. “And I’ve just found him.”

“Oh?” I was dusting my trouser bottoms. Hearing that, I stopped and frowned at her. “Really?”

She nodded. “You are Caelum Desanto, are you not?”

“That’s me. And who might you be?”

“The name’s Constance.” She let the door to the rooftop close behind her. “Constance Peligree.”

“Well, Constance Peligree, what can I do for you.”

The girl started walking toward me at a casual pace.

I noticed she wasn’t wearing her indoor shoes.

“Tell me,” she said. “Do you have a sister named, Celica Desanto?”

I stiffened, and a tiny chime sounded off in my head. “My sister is dead. She passed away a year ago.”
The girl stopped some three feet away from me. She was shorter than I, so she looked up at me as she asked, “Your sister—her name was Celica Desanto afil Lanfear, was she not?”

I dropped my carry-bag to the ground beside my feet. “What did you say?”

“Was your sister’s full registered name, Celica Desanto afil Lanfear?”

I didn’t understand why this girl would ask such a question.

To refer to my sister as ‘afil Lanfear’ meant that Celica had been affiliated with the Lanfear Pride. This was different to appending the Pride’s name directly to a person’s name. To do so implied said individual was an Aventis.

But to use the term ‘afil’ implied that said individual was neither Regular nor Aventis.

It implied they were a Familiar.

This girl whom I’d never met before today, was suddenly saying that my sister, Celica, was a Familiar in the service of the Lanfear Pride.

“That’s a lie,” I retorted, my voice low. “My sister was a Regular. She was a Regular just like my parents—just like I am.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed before widening. “Celica Desanto afil Lanfear was a Familiar who worked for the Sanctum. According to official records, she was killed in action during a cover operation against Crimson Crescent at the beginning of last year. Since then, you have been registered as an orphan, and your wellbeing supervised by the office of the Lanfear Pride.”

I staggered back a step. “No. That isn’t true.”

She nodded. “Correct. Only half of it is true.”

I swallowed hard as I steadied myself. “Which half?”

“Your sister did not die in a covert operation. Your sister was the subject of a covert operation.”

I shook my head, demonstration my total lack of understanding.

The girl, Constance, placed her hands behind her back.

“Celica Desanto was the Meister of an Artifact, a type Valkyrie Maiden. She and the members of her Valkyrie team were the subject of a covert investigation examining ties to Crimson Crescent. Before they could be arrested, she and her teammates fled. They were hunted down and terminated. But before Celica Desanto could be brought down, she killed the termination squad.”

My mouth had fallen open as I stared aghast at the girl. “What…?”

“Your sister was a traitor. And my sister was sent to hunt her down.”

I felt my innards grow cold in understanding.

Constance smiled at me. “Your sister killed my sister.”

She removed her hands from behind her back, and showed me her right wrist.

An ornate bracelet now adorned it.

“This is my Fragment, Kavalier.”

I started backing away from her, my senses strangely in overdrive as I realized what she intended.

“There’s a drone up there,” I told her. “An Enforcer drone. It’s watching this courtyard.”

“Yes, it is. But you’re wrong. It’s not an Enforcer drone. It’s merely painted that way. It’s there to help me find you. It’s there to watch me kill you. It’s there so that we can send that recording to Hell where sister is waiting!”

A thick black mist abruptly swirled around her body, obscuring her from view.

In a heartbeat, the air became frigidly cold to the point that I could see my breath.

I knew what was happening. I had seen this before, both in person and on the news channels.

It was the summoning of a Sarcophagus and the Artifact or Fragment within.

Turning on my heels, I bolted across the courtyard, jumping over a bench and then onto a table as I ran for the rooftop hut.

If I could get out of the courtyard, maybe I could lose this crazy girl inside the school.

Perhaps, she would abandon her attempt on my life.

I was twenty feet from the door when someone jumped out in front of me, cutting me off.

I skidded to a halt, and time seemed to slow down around me.

My senses had been on the razor’s edge, but now they went up a notch.

It was unnatural and unlike anything I’d experienced before.

Because of this, I was able to recognize that it was Constance standing in my way.

She was clad in a body suit composed of gold and silver scales that added a foot to her height. A metal skirt like a folding fan extended out from her waist.

She had called it a Kavalier, and it was quite the sight to behold.

So too the long lance she wielded with two hands.

Though time had slowed down, my body felt heavy and responded sluggishly.

I was unable to avoid the lance that plunged into my chest, cutting through my ribs, and puncturing a lung as it penetrated out my back.

I was a Regular, not an Aventis.

Without the Symbiote inside me, I knew that I was mortally wounded.

My body was locked rigid in agony, but my legs could no longer support me.

Yet I was kept upright by the lance that had boned me.

With two hands on the lance, Constance was angled it upwards, lifting me off the ground.

She wore a cold smile that made her eyes appear lifeless.

“And now,” she declared, “the Desanto bloodline ends.”

She flicked the lance, and I was tossed off the end. As my body came off the lance, the blade did more damage on the way out than on the way in.

It took a second or so for my body to fly halfway across the hundred foot wide courtyard.

I landed on a bench table, bounced off, and then flopped to the ground.

Rolling twice, I came to a stop on my back.

With my lung punctured, I began to suffocate.

I would be dead in less than a minute, convulsing like a fish out of water, not drowning in air but in blood.

But as I lay there, in my mind I recalled the moments before and after I was flicked away by Constance.

Behind her, the door to the rooftop had opened and a thick, evil looking black mist had spilled out, spreading a few meters into the courtyard.

Through the mist, a beautiful girl with almond emerald eyes, raven hair, and no breasts worth mentioning had stepped out at a run.

Behind that girl was Haruka, flushed, out of breath.

She stood before the open doorway, holding onto something with one hand, and her magnificent bosom with the other.

I coughed up blood and yet I couldn’t help smiling.

I was going to die, but at least I would take that memory with me.

The memory of the unknown beauty rushing through the evil mist.

The memory of Haruka and her bosom fit for a goddess.

A glorious chest deserving ten points out of ten.

---

Dear Readers, I have been asked about this and so I need to make a statement.

As he was in the original series, Caelum Desanto is and will continue to be a pervert, at least for the span of Book One.

Girls, breasts, and lingerie are his passion.

I know this may disappoint many of you. But he must remain true to his source material.

Otherwise I need to rewrite the entire story, rather than update, revise, reversion, and improve upon it.

So, Caelum will remain a pervert for the short term.

Thank you for taking the time to put up with him, thus far.

Best wishes to you all.

Oh, and don't forget to read the reflections in order.

Reflections – II

The Prides called them Artifacts.

To the people of Pharos and the colonized systems under the control of the Prides, these Artifacts were powerful and mysterious devices found after the Cataclysm had torn our little corner of the galaxy apart. That is indeed true, since the Artifacts were fished out of the thick cloud of the Hurakan Nebula by numerous starships built for this kind of salvage.

Artifacts were also referred to as Fragments.

This is because Artifacts came in two packages.

An Artifact could be referred to as a Fragment if it was incomplete, that is, it was missing pieces that denied it becoming a full armor, a weapon, or some other category of device.

An Artifact could also be referred to as a Fragment if it was locked down, and this affected those Artifacts that possessed a Core.

Either way, Fragments and Artifacts were powerful and varied devices, some of them nearly unstoppable by conventional means. For that reason, the Prides chose to keep many of them locked away in secret vaults throughout the asteroid colony of Pharos, and probably elsewhere at covert installations deep within the Hurakan Nebula.

Another reason was that the Prides didn’t trust us Familiars, and we Familiars were the only ones that could operate a Fragment.

For now, I’ll continue explaining the important aspects about the Fragments with a general overview.

We already know Fragments are incomplete or locked down devices the Prides refer to as Artifacts, and these Artifacts were recovered after the Cataclysm from deep inside the Hurakan Nebula. Who made them is a point of contention, because Fragments – and Artifacts – are simply too advanced and amazing for humans to have created, and there are no records of Fragments and Artifacts existing before the Cataclysm during humanity’s First Golden Age.

However, if they were not created by humans, they were at least created for humans.

Specifically, they were created for Familiars.

On this point, there is overwhelming agreement in the scientific community.

Another point of consensus is that the majority of Fragments are designed for conflict. They’re weapons, not toys, and they’re meant for chaos and destruction.

They’re meant to kill.

The whole story behind Fragments and Artifacts would undoubtedly require a separate volume. I’m not privy to all the details, just a fragment of them, so I have no intention of writing such a book. Instead, I’ll simply summarize what I knew then and complement it with what I know now.

Let’s begin with the definition of a Fragment.

As I explained earlier a Fragment refers to two types of Artifacts.

The first type refers to an Artifact that is incomplete, and missing the pieces that would allow it to achieve its full potential. It’s like saying, it’s missing bits of inventory from its armory.

The second type of Fragment is an Artifact whose Core is in a locked down state, and as such is unable able to manifest its true form. Thus when summoned, the Fragment is only a fragment of the completed, unlocked Artifact. In game terms, it’s a device with abilities that are locked and can’t be used. The player or Familiar needs to overcome challenges that will unlock the Core, and release the full potential of the Artifact.

Now we need to describe the two types of Artifacts – those with a Core and those without.

When the right pieces are combined in the right order, they form a complete Artifact. The Core of an Artifact determines what pieces it will accept into the mix, or armory. This means that an Artifact with an armory can swap out its components for other components depending on the situation at hand. I’ve come to learn that those Artifacts with a Core are by far the most powerful and dangerous. Invariably, they are weapons.

That said, there are a great many Artifacts that lack a Core, and their pieces come together by mutual agreement. While less powerful as weapons, it is foolish to underestimate their abilities, how dangerous they are, and how much damage they can cause.

There is another part to a Fragment or Artifact and that is the aforementioned armory.

We call this armory, the Sarcophagus.

As the name suggests, the Sarcophagus resembles an enormous coffin, and depending on the type of Artifact, some are considerably larger than others. They provide the means of storing, servicing, and repairing an Artifact. But they also provide the means to discretely transport the Artifact without anyone knowing that it’s there. In other words, the Sarcophagus serves to keep the Artifact close to the Familiar, allowing them to summon their Artifact at any time, and have it delivered to them within seconds.

How does it do this? By generating a fold in the fabric of reality.

We call this fold, Pocket Space.

Hiding within this pocket, the Sarcophagus is able to go wherever the Familiar goes, thereby travelling incognito with no visible interaction with reality around it. In other words, it’s like having a magical pocket that you can throw things into, and not worry about this pocket bumping into people or objects in the real world. Because of this, some researchers refer to Pocket Space as Phantom Space, because it’s invisible and cannot be touched.

However, not all of the Fragment or Artifact resides within the Sarcophagus.

One piece is left outside. That is, one piece is left outside of the Pocket Space bubble.

Invariably, this piece resembles an item of jewelry such as a necklace or a pair of anklets.

In my case, it was shaped like a wide bracelet about an inch across that I wore over my right wrist. The Lanfear researchers explained that the bracelet was my link to the remainder of the Fragment contained within the Sarcophagus that was hiding in Pocket Space. Because of this, I like to think of this bracelet as the key ring, and the Fragment as the collection of keys carried in my pocket.

For the record, I will state that my Fragment’s Sarcophagus does indeed resemble a sarcophagus from ancient times, though there’s no mummy inside. It’s a huge thing, some twelve meters tall, with enough space to fit a small shuttle inside and still have room to spare.

There is one more thing I’d like to mention.

Whenever I summoned my Fragment from the Sarcophagus, a breach would take place between Pocket Space and real-space, resulting in a thick, black mist that would spill out of the opening. Nobody knew why it was black, but one theory was that Sarcophagi employed dark matter as an energy source, and that the mist was a by-product, a form of pollution akin to the black smoke that results from burning coal.

Whatever the reason for its existence, the mist was chilling to the touch, and there were many times that I felt it possessed some sinister life of its own.

 

From the author of the Gun Princess Royale, the story of Caelem Desanto continues....

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Intro – III.
– I –
(Caprice)

Through the sensorium-field emanating from the anklets I wore, my link to the Valkyrie hiding in Pocket Space, nestled within its gun-metal grey Sarcophagus, I was able to understand the situation on the rooftop courtyard long before opening the door.

Because of this, I knew that I was too late to spare him injury.

I could only hope that I wasn’t too late to save his life.

To do this I would need to rely on the girl that had chased after me.

The buxom brunette – damn I envied her chest – cried out to me from the far end of a hallway as I was frantically searching the unfamiliar school for a way up to the roof.

For some reason, she had yelled out, “This way”, and then waved at me to follow her.

I did just that, and followed her into a stairwell.

She had a head start, and arrived at the top landing first, but immediately she had slumped to her hands and knees.

“Roof…top…court…yard….”

There was no need for me to nod, but as I jumped to the top landing, and touched ground beside her.

Then shock ran through me as I sensed the presence of a manifested Artifact about a dozen feet beyond the door.

In a heartbeat, my Valkyrie Maiden identified it for me: a Kavalier, equipped with a twelve foot long lance.

The armor’s Vector Core and Vector Fins weren’t summoned, so it wasn’t an Artifact, but a partially summoned Fragment.

Nonetheless, I knew that it would be a challenge for me to fight it on equal terms, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t ready to do so.

I also sensed a human body, a male by what the sensorium-field could discern, and he was badly wounded.
No, he was critically wounded, and he would die if I didn’t do something in a hurry.

*Brynhildr! The blood vial!

My Fragment responded almost instantly, and the black mist that announced a breach between Pocket Space and real-space filled the stairwell landing, blanking me and the voluptuous Amiella.

I reached into that mist that enveloped me, and prehensile metal tentacle delivered a vial of blood into my waiting hand.

With the breach still open, I used my sensorium-field to find Amiella and then rush to her.

Yanking her to her feet, I pressed the vial into her hands.

“Desanto is injured. You have to save him!”

“Wh—what?” she cried back.

“Take the vial. Inject it into his body.” I made sure she was clasping it securely. “Flip the cap open. Push the button to inject. Remember?”

I sensed her nod. “Push the button to inject.”

“No! Flip the cap open. Then push the button beneath it to inject!”

I should have asked her for confirmation but I was running out of time.

I turned, used the sensorium-field to find the door, shifted my mind into an overclocked state, and then threw the door open.

The black mist spilled out into the courtyard.

I stepped out of the rooftop hut and saw a girl wearing a bodysuit of silver and gold scales wielding a lance twelve feet long.

The weapon was like liquid mercury turned solid, and a high school boy hung helplessly impaled on the bladed end, his feet swinging gently in the air.

The boy’s eyes met mine for a fraction of a second, and then focused on the open doorway behind me.

I could sense Amiella standing there.

And I could sense the shock running through her body.

Then the girl with lance tossed him away, and he flew halfway across the courtyard, bouncing off a bench before flopping lifelessly to the ground.

With my mind still overclocked, I shouted at Amiella over a shoulder.

“Save him!”

Then I bolted toward the girl in the metal scaled armor.
*Brynhildr!

One of the misconceptions of modern warfare was the convention that only an Artifact could fight another Artifact.

That wasn’t true. Given enough firepower to bear, an Artifact could be overwhelmed.

Granted, they were powerful, often described as gifts from the myriad pantheons of the gods.

But they were not invisible. Far from it. And I was convinced the girl toward me wasn’t wielding an Artifact, but a Fragment, and thereby it was at a fraction of its power.

This was fortunate, as I had yet to unlock my Valkyrie’s Core.

I’d only been in possession of the Valkyrie Maiden for a six months.

I’d made progress unlocking its abilities and learning to wield them.

But now those six months of training were going to be put to the test.

If I succeeded and won this battle, he would live.

If I failed and lost, Caelum Desanto would die.

Never before I had felt such overwhelming pressure.

Never before I had held someone’s fate in my hands.

I was no longer the helpless child I was ten years ago.

I was Familiar, and a fledgling Valkyrie Meister, and I had the means to protect someone.

I had the means to make a difference.

I summoned Brynhildr out of its Sarcophagus, filling much of the courtyard with the thick, black mist that roiled as though with a life of its own.

The girl wearing the Kavalier armor may have been surprised to see me, but I didn’t think that was the case.

It was unlikely she had failed to sense me, unless her Fragment lacked a sensorium field and that was doubtful.

Yet for a heartbeat she stood in the middle of the courtyard, perhaps held down by indecision, before jumping back some twenty feet as the thick black mist continued to spill out of the breach between Pocket Space and real-space.

I feared she would run away, but she did not. catching sight of Amiella running along the edge of the courtyard toward Desanto lying on the ground on a pool of his own blood.

Within seconds, my legs and arms were wrapped in Brynhildr’s dark golden armor.

A moment later, the long wicked blades adorning my forearm gauntlets flicked forward into attack position.

The breach into real-space sealed as my Valkyrie’s Sarcophagus retreated back into the Pocket Space of its own making.

As the mist faded, the girl in the Kavalier Fragment got a good look at me as I stood on armored legs that ended in tapered feet, giving the impression I was standing on tip-toes.

At first she stared at me in shock.

That shock soon turned into horror.

And then horror gave way to rage.

Slashing the air violently with her lance, she screamed at me in fury.

“Valkyrie!”

The rooftop beneath her feet cratered as she launched herself at me.

In the blink of an eye, she covered the distance between us, and her lance clashed with my blades.

The ground trembled, and the air wavered as the shockwave rippled outwards in an ever expanding circle.

– II –
(Haruka)

A loud crash rang through the air.

Yet it sounded more like a boom.

I was running along the inside of the courtyard, hugging the fencing so to speak, when the rooftop trembled violently.

Then a thick wave of air washed over me.

I yelled out in fright, and covered my head and ears.

The air continued boom successively a number of times, and the ground shook in accompaniment.

There was loud grunting and yelling too, before an anxious respite occurred.

The silence that followed didn’t last long, ending when a shouting match erupted between the girl with green eyes clad in golden armor, and the other girl wearing the bodysuit of gold and silver scales wielding the long lance.

I wasn’t ignorant, and I wasn’t illiterate either.

I was sufficiently educated to know that the cold black mist in the stairwell landing was a clear sign the flat chested girl wasn’t an Aventis. She was someone far more dangerous, a Familiar, and she was equipped with one of the ancient relics that were occasionally salvaged from the depths of the Hurakan Nebula; relics used as long ago as the War of Supremacy.

I had often wondered why the Prides would allow Familiars to freely move about with such powerful weapons. It made little sense to me. Then again, there had been no serious incidents involving Artifacts and Familiars reported in the media for many years, not since the destruction of the superfreighter more than six years ago.

However, I had a strong suspicion that was about to change.

After all, how could this encounter on the rooftop between two Familiars not be considered an incident?

With that said, I chose not to mull the repercussions.

Time was a wasting. Every second was precious.

The shockwaves that coursed over the rooftop had knocked me down to my knees.

Taking advantage of the brief lull in the fighting, I picked myself up and ran over to Caelum’s body.

I wanted to scream when I saw him lying on his back in a spreading pool of blood.

Instead, by some miracle, I kept my wits about me as I dropped to my knees beside his body.

The device the flat chested girl had entrusted to me was shaped like an engorged fountain pen.

I hurriedly studied both ends.

Remembering the instructions the girl had shouted at me in monotone, I looked for the cap to lift.

My hands shook so much I almost dropped the device a couple of times.

After finding the end cap and popping it open, I then leant over Caelum’s body.

It wasn’t just my hands that trembled, but my whole body as well.

It wasn’t easy to ignore the blood.

It was torture keeping my gaze away from the enormous wound on his chest.

Not knowing whether he was alive or dead, I pressed the injecting end of the device against his neck, and then depressed the button.

There was no whoosh that I could hear of, and even though my body was trembling, I could distinctly feel the device shiver in my hand as it expelled its contents into Caelum’s bloodstream.

Truthfully, I didn’t know how injecting Caelum with the unknown liquid would make a difference. The wound was so large, I doubted an Aventis could live through the injury Caelum had suffered.

Dropping the expended device to the ground, I then stood up and proceeded to drag Caelum’s inert body across the courtyard to the farthest corner.

At some point in time, the fighting between the two Familiars had resumed, and I wanted to put as much as distance as I could between them and us.

Ideally I would have preferred fleeing with Caelum through the rooftop hut, but it was located on the opposite end of the courtyard, and I doubted I could get past the two girls unscathed.

Holding Caelum tightly, I watched the battle rage a dozen or so meters before me, hoping the combatants wouldn’t come near our corner of the rooftop.

Having smashed aside numerous benches and tables, the girls had cleared for themselves a wide area within which they could thrust, cut, and slash at each other.

The Artifacts or Fragments they were wearing amplified their speed and strength, and as they moved about the courtyard, their bodies blurred at times as they accelerated abruptly, making it difficult for me to follow their movements with my eyes.

The girl in the gold and silver scaled armor had yelled at the other girl for a while, but I had to admit that I’d been preoccupied with Caelum, so I hadn’t paid attention to what she was screaming in blatant anger.

I didn’t know who these girls were.

However, since she’d tried to kill Caelum, I considered the girl in the scaled armor as a foe.

What did that make the flat-chested girl? A friend? An ally? A defender of justice?

I had no idea.

In fact, I didn’t even know why they were fighting, and I didn’t know why Caelum had been targeted.

But one thing was clear to me.

If the flat chested girl in golden armor were to lose, then the other girl would most certainly finish what she started.

If that were to pass, I would be unable to protect Caelum, let alone myself.

Thus helplessly, I watched the battle continue to unfold, and prayed not only for Caelum, but for the girl desperately fighting to protect us.

 

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I'll post the next part shortly. Those of you who've read the Pride x ReVamp version will understand why Kaiser's X Blessing is so different.

Reflections – III

Not all Artifacts were the same.

Some were weapons and some were not.

Within this separation, they were classified into classes and types.

For example, there are Artifacts that fall into the Ruler Class.

Then there are those that fall into the Celestial Class.

Others belong to the Pantheon Class.

Within a class, they are further distinguished by types, and sometimes the classifications become messy. One example of this are the Valkyries.

Officially they belong to the Pantheon Class, and referred to as the type, Valkyrie. But within this type are subtypes such as Brynhildr, Sigrún, and Gunnr. As a result, they are frequently called Valkyrie Class, Type Brynhildr, or Valkyrie Class, Type Gunnr.

I guess it’s not that much of a big deal, but it can be a little confusing at time when there are dozens upon dozens of different Artifact types and subtypes within a single class.

I will mention that my Artifact fell into the Ruler Class, which I felt was pretty cool.

So how does combat between weapon type Artifacts and Fragments work out?

To begin with, all combat types are able to manifest a variety of different effect-fields.

Effect fields that shield them are called Aegis-fields, and they serve as flexible barriers.

Piercer-fields or Gram-fields act as the knives, swords, or other sharp implements with one purpose only and that is to cut through armor and flesh.

Hecaton-fields are effect-fields used to manipulate objects and move them about. They can also be used to strengthen a Familiar’s body.
Icarus-fields are considered part of the mobility class of effect-field. They are named as such because they give wings to a Familiar, allowing them to jump high, run fast, and move about with eye tricking speed.

Each Artifact or Fragment also possesses a form of body armor called the Skin-Regalia.

The Regalia bodysuit is composed of a gel like material that can harden and soften in an instant. It acts as protective armor, but it also enhances a Familiars strength several fold, and guards their body from the detrimental effects of abrupt acceleration, deceleration, and physical impacts. Without it, a Familiar’s body would be unable to cope with the incredible stresses placed upon it when in combat with another Familiar. Clad in their Artifact’s Skin-Regalia, a Familiar can run for miles without breaking sweat, or toss a cargo container onto its side as though it were no heavier than a baby carriage.

This ensemble of effect-fields, body armor, and other bits and pieces I haven’t mentioned yet, complements the combat abilities of an Artifact, elevating it well beyond the level of any manmade personal weapon system.

A single Valkyrie Maiden operated by an experienced Meister can hold its own against an airwing of airborne power armored troops.

A Familiar with a Talos Artifact can pound a company of heavy tanks into scrap metal.

And a Celestial Seraphim can rip through the armor of an interstellar destroyer and tear it up from the inside.

However, despite their destructive abilities, Artifacts are not weapons of mass destruction.

That is, they are tactical weapons and not strategic weapons.

And though it is best left to an Artifact to confront another Artifact in combat, that doesn’t mean that they cannot be engaged by conventional manmade weaponry, but it does mean that it’s a lot harder to stop an Artifact with a tank battalion, drone air-wing, or interstellar warship.

That’s why Familiars are trained to fight other Familiars.

And protecting people from rogue Familiars is the reason why the Sanctum and Public Security came to exist.

 

– I –
(Caprice)

“Who are you?” I yelled at her.

After clashing with her lance several times, we both retreated away from each other.

The opening exchange was simply to get an initial measure of our respective opponents.

Afterwards, I realized with a sinking feeling that I was at a disadvantage.

I wasn’t wearing my Skinsuit that amplified my strength during training sessions, and I had yet to unlock the Valkyrie Maiden sufficiently to summon its Skin-Regalia – a bodysuit like armor that far exceeded the capabilities of a Skinsuit.

In contrast, my opponent was clad in her Kavalier’s Skin-Regalia, and thereby possessed an advantage in strength over me.

This was a battle I wasn’t prepared for, but it was a battle I couldn’t avoid.

If I lost here, she would kill Desanto.

The question I wanted to know was why she wanted him dead.

The fact that the drone with Enforcer markings continued to watch from overhead, added to my worries.

Clearly it was watching and recording the battle, but for whose benefit?

I didn’t think this was something organized by the Prides or Primogens. Instead, I suspected a third party was involved. However, I discounted Crimson Crescent.

It just didn’t feel like this was orchestrated by Crimson Crescent.

Something about this scenario was too low budget for them.

If Crescent was involved, why not dispatch someone with a fully unlocked Artifact to kill Desanto? And why go about it this way? It just didn’t add up.

“Who are you?” I yelled at her again.

“Valkyrie! You’re a damn Valkyrie Meister!” she yelled back at me.

I shifted my stance to a sidelong defensive posture.

The lance she wielded presented a problem because it outreached my arm-blades.

Through my sensorium-field, I could sense the piercer-field wrapped around the lance’s arrow head. Beneath that field was a barrier-field – an Aegis-field – that protected the weapon from attack.

I too had summoned piercer-fields around both my three foot long arm-blades.

Because of this, when our weapons struck each other it was akin to two swords impacting edge to edge.

If I struck at her barrier-fields, then it was like hitting a sword against a shield.

“Why are you protecting him?” she yelled at me. “Why? Don’t you know who he is?”

I held back a frown. “Why wouldn’t I protect him? And who is he to you?”

“He is my vengeance. My revenge. For me and the others?”

With my mind overclocked, I pondered the situation a little more, and considered my options.

If I couldn’t win against her the girl, then could I drag out the battle long enough for the authorities to arrive? Had they noticed the battle taking place on the school’s rooftop? Were they coming? Surely they had to be on their way. But if so, then why was that drone still watching from overhead?

Standing some seven meters away, the girl’s face twisted in fury. “We have worked for this day for so long! You won’t stop me. You won’t deny me!”

“I have no idea why you’re trying to kill him. But my Guardian will be royally pissed if he dies. And you don’t want to see her angry—”

I leapt toward her.

“—because she’s a redhead!”

That was indeed true.

Arisa was a redhead, and ninety-nine point nine percent of the time she was calm, cool, and in control.

But that point one percent of the time was terrifying for anyone caught in the firing line.

And I didn’t want to be in that firing line.

With an Icarus-field emanating from the Valkyrie’s armored legs, my body accelerated from a standing start to a hundred kilometers an hour in a mere second.

Since I wasn’t wearing a Skinsuit or the Skin-Regalia, I relied on summoning a Hecaton-field to strengthen my limbs, wrapping it around my torso and arms to help protect me from the effect of the acceleration, as well as amplifying the power of the slash I delivered to the girl’s chest.

She responded in a hurry, bring up her lance to deflect my arm-blade while simultaneously sidestepping away from the line of my attack.

But I had closed the distance enough to bring my second arm-blade into play.

I pivoted my body as soon as my Valkyrie’s tapered feet touched ground.

Thrusting the arm-blade attached to my left arm’s gauntlet, I plunged it toward the girl like a rapier.

The blade struck the Aegis-field shielding her armored chest, and the field flashed emerald green as it was penetrated by my piercer-field.

A fraction of a second later, the blade scraped the scales of her Kavalier’s armor, furrowing and shattering them.

The girl darted back, and with a little distance between us, she regained her stance.

A moment later she was on the offensive, and I had to employ both arm-blades to fend off her thrusting lance.

Though she had reach on her side, I was finding that with both arm-blades moving in concert, I was able to avoid being stabbed by the lance’s arrow head.

But I was having to move extremely fast to keep up with her armored body.

The Hecaton-fields around my arms and torso could not fully compensate for the lack of a skinsuit or Skin-Regalia.

As a result, my concentration that should have been free to focus on attacking and defending, was divided with directing the Hecaton-fields.

For now, the process was manual, but I had been told by my Instructors that in time the Valkyrie would choose to support me.

It wasn’t that it couldn’t do so now.

It was simply that the intelligence within the Valkyrie’s Core chose not to.

That’s right. My Valkyrie was being difficult at a time when I truly needed its support.

Despite my using Brynhildr for seven months now, its reluctance to assist me was an indication that our bond was still weak.

And Brynhildr was judging me, gauging me, deciding for itself if I was worthy of its power.

In that case, I would demonstrate to it the extent of my talent, training, and determination.

I would allow my actions to speak for me.

I chose to be unconventional. Instead of parrying the girl’s swinging lance, I kicked it aside.

The blow I delivered with my armored left leg was much greater than she expected.

She lost her balance, and as she staggered to recover, I stepped in.

At close distance, I had the advantage.

Sword masters decry the use of two blades. In their opinion two blades don’t offer an advantage. It causes balance issues, and requires the wielder be ambidextrous with no preferred side. In other words, the wielder needed to move in a perfectly symmetrical manner where they favored neither their left or right side.

But I was using the arm-blades as swords, and as an extension of my fists.

And for the last six months I had been training to move fluidly such that I could employ both sides and both arms equally.

Thus when I attacked with the right blade, I protected with the left.

It wasn’t so much a sword dance, but a martial art employing my hands, forearms, and legs.

I punched at her, plunging the three foot blade extending from my right forearm.

The blade was angled so that it flowed over my right hand.

It struck the Aegis-field over her right breast, and emerald flashes sparked wildly as my blade’s piercer-field again penetrated through to her scaled armor.

Once again she darted aside, giving herself room to make use of the long lance.

I refused to give her the opportunity to bring the lance into play, and chased her down across the courtyard.

She skipped back repeatedly, somehow managing to avoid the worst my blades could deliver. But even when she managed to block one blade with her lance, the second would come close enough to inflict more damage on her Kavalier.

It wasn’t long before she was sporting dozens of narrow, short rents that revealed a second layer of metal scales.

Now that I was close to her, I realized the scales were shaped more like petals of gold and silver. When struck by the piercer-field flowing over my arm-blades, the petals would twist, buckle, or break apart. Yet I knew that against conventional ballistic weaponry, the Kavalier’s armor was close to impregnable. It could survive the explosive kinetic energy delivered by a tank shell, but if not complemented by an Aegis-field to absorb and redirect the energy, it was highly probable the Familiar within the Kavalier would be killed by the shell’s detonation.

It was a case of the armor surviving but not the wearer.

I continued punching her, stabbing her in the process, finding it more effective than slashing as it allowed me to block her lance while attacking her.

I mixed up my assault on her, bringing my armored legs into play.

Occasionally I was able to deliver a kick that forced her back, or struck hard enough to elicit a pained grunt out of her, but the downside was that it opened up the gap between us.

Pivoting on a tapered foot, I spun around, and delivered a kick with my other leg.

Actually, my leg armor didn’t have feet, but you get the gist of what I mean.

The piercer-field I had summoned around my outstretched foot, cut the air like a blade aiming for her throat.

While her neck wasn’t exposed to the elements, the armor protecting it was weakest, and there was a limited Aegis-field wrapped around it like a scarf.

Her reaction was surprisingly quick.

It was either the result of innate talent or exceptional training.

Jerking her head and torso back, she was able to avoid the piercer-field shimmering faintly over my armored foot.

The edge of the field missed her neck by mere inches.

Then my leg completed its swing, and I allowed its momentum to carry my body along with it.

I spun away from her, in the process briefly exposing my back that was unprotected save for a couple of overlapping Aegis-fields.

To dissuade her from charging in, I slashed with outstretched arms as I spun like a lethal top.

I succeeded in keeping her back, but having avoided both my kick and scything right blade, she used her lance to parry my left arm-blade as my body continued to spin.

The impact slowed me down, robbing me of momentum, and unsettling my balance for a moment.

Capitalizing on the sudden change in fortune, she moved quickly, plunging the lance toward me.

Overclocked, I felt my heart stop in fear as I momentarily imagined myself skewered by the lance.

In desperation, I simultaneously bent and twisted my body in an awkward manner, and narrowly avoided the weapon’s deadly arrow head, as the lance passed behind me with mere inches to spare, its piercer-field grazing the Aegis-field protecting my back.

With my body still wildly contorted in the shape of the letter S, I realized my left arm was free to move again, and I quickly flicked my forearm, whipping the attached arm-blade across the girl’s face. She had drawn in close to thrust the lance into me, so the piercer-field flowing over the tip of my arm-blade scrapped the Aegis-field protecting her face, making the air shimmer like emerald water.

She jerked her head aside, and kicked off the ground.

This gave me the opportunity I needed to recover my stance by quickly summoning an Icarus-field to propel my body away from her.

My tapered feet skated on air millimeters above the ground, and I came to a stop several meters away.

Turning quickly, I faced her with my arm-blades at the ready.

Thus far I’d done well to restrict her from making the most of her lance.

However, I was growing exhausted from the relentless pace of the battle, and little by little my movements were losing their edge.

I was in good physical condition, and with continued training my Familiar body would continue to improve, attaining a performance well beyond those of a Regular, and nearing that of an Aventis. But here and now, I was confronting this girl without a Skinsuit or the Valkyrie’s Skin-Regalia.

Even employing the Hecaton-fields to strengthen my body, and frequently summoning an Icarus-field to aid my mobility, wasn’t enough to slow down the rate at which I was burning through my stamina.

And I had one more regret.

I was without the Symbiote inside my body.

If I had taken up Arisa’s offer two days ago to drink her blood, the Symbiote would have grown inside my body now, and it would have boosted my physical abilities beyond those of an Aventis.

I pushed aside that regret, and focused on the girl with the Kavalier.

I needed to win this fight soon, but how was I to do that?

And why hadn’t anyone come to investigate?

Where was the Enforcer Division?

Where was Public Security?

Where the Hell were Arisa’s people?

To my surprise, the girl did not press the attack.

Instead, she stood her ground, and I saw that she was breathing quite heavily.

Had the strain of battle gotten to her as well?

As I’d mentioned already, she was fully clad in her Kavalier’s armor, so she definitely had a physical advantage over me. But seeing her huffing loudly, her shoulders heaving visibly with every breath she took, she was apparently more exhausted than I was.

It irked me to realize that if I’d been wearing my Skinsuit, I could have overwhelmed this girl by now.

Victory would have been mine.

I did deserve a pat on the back for wearing her out, though she showed little sign of going down.

“Why? Why…a Valkyrie?” she gasped between short heavy breaths. “Why do I need…to face a Valkyrie? Why now?”

I swallowed and caught my breath as well. “Are you going to tell me who you are? Why do you want Desanto dead?”

The girl raised her chin as she glared at me. “I will not be denied my vengeance.”

“What vengeance? What are you talking about? What has he done to you?”

“For my sister. For their sisters. I will end this now. I will kill him!”

I held my expression steady, foregoing a frown. “Your sister?”

I shot Amiella a look.

She had dragged Desanto to a corner of the courtyard, and held him tightly.

Stretching Brynhildr’s sensorium-field toward the pair, I sensed his life signs.

Though weak, he was still alive, and I also sensed the contents of the vial slowly spreading through him.

She did it! She injected him with Arisa’s blood!

Now all we could do was wait and hope that the test results had been true.

I had to hope that his compatibility with the Lanfear Symbiote was as high as the tests indicated.

But my job protecting him wasn’t over until I defeated this girl who continued to rail at me.

“You’re a Valkyrie Meister just like her. Just like that bitch.” Without preamble the girl shifted her stance and whirled her lance, cutting an elaborate pattern in the air before bringing it to bear in my direction. “But I will not be denied. Not after so long. Not after so much sacrifice—so much pain!”

Through the sensorium-field generated by the Valkyrie Amor, I sensed the lance’s piercer-field extend significantly in front of the arrow head.

The girl lowered her center of gravity. “I was chosen by them to wield this power—this power that they sacrificed to give me—that amongst us only I could use! And I will use it!”

An incredibly strong Aegis-field surrounded her body.

It was the equivalent of doubling up on her armor.

If she succeeded in striking me, I wouldn’t escape unharmed.

I grit my teeth.

*Brynhildr, if there’s ever a time I needed you, then this is it.

Shifting my stance, I prepared to meet her oncoming charge.

*Please, Brynhildr. Please, judge me worthy.

The girl too shifted the placement of her feet on the courtyard ground.

*Judge me worthy—AND LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH!

Opposite me, the girl suddenly shifted her stance. “They placed their trust in me—their hopes! I won’t let them down!”

She leapt across the courtyard but she didn’t charge at me.

She charged for Amiella who was cradling Desanto.

When we fought close by, Brynhildr had sensed Desanto’s weak life signs. In other words, he was still alive, so I assumed that Amiella had injected the vial into him. But Amiella’s efforts would be for naught if I didn’t stop the charging girl in the Kavalier.

I called up on the strongest Icarus-field the Valkyrie Armor could manifest, and pushed my overclocked awareness to a desperate, dangerous degree.

Time may have slowed down further in my mind, but my surroundings moved as quickly as before if not quicker as I summoned every last ounce of acceleration the Valkyrie Maiden could summon.

I soared low over the courtyard, wrapped in overlapping Aegis-fields, and propelled by a dense Icarus-field that made the air shimmer in the shape of wings behind me.

The girl wielding Kavalier had to have noticed me, though she continued charging toward Amiella and the wounded Desanto.

The girl screamed for the boy’s death.

Amiella screamed in terror.

And I belted out a war cry as I crashed into the Kavalier.

The Aegis-fields I’d layered around me flashed brightly, then shattered into emerald snowflakes.

But as soon one field broke apart, another was projected in its place to keep me safe.

Protected by the Valkyrie Maiden, I careened with the girl in the Kavalier into the courtyard fencing.

Ripping through it, we fell into the school grounds five stories below.

The impact cratered the ground, and though I was protected by the Aegis-fields wrapped around me, some of the energy released upon landing travelled through my body.

My brain jarred within my skull, but by some good fortune, I avoided blacking out.

Around me, the fencing that had been ripped away fell to the school grounds, and adding to the debris littering the air.

My arm-blades had flicked back to their retracted position.

I noticed this as I pushed myself up off the ground.

Aided by an Icarus-field, I stood up on my Valkyrie’s tapered feet.

Another Icarus-field stretching out from my armored legs that kept me standing upright.

Cries of panic filled the air as the students in the school’s central courtyard fled in a hurry.

I wasn’t sure if it was a blessing in disguise that we’d fallen into the school, instead of out onto the street.

And it was fortunate that we had landed on empty ground.

Sensing motion nearby that didn’t belong to a student, I quickly turned to see the girl in the Kavalier rise unsteadily to her feet with her lance in hand.

“Valkyrie Girl,” she hissed, and blood trickled out the corner of her mouth.

I stared at her in disbelief, then chided myself for thinking a five storey fall would have incapacitated her.

After all, she was wrapped in her Kavalier bodysuit.

So if I had survived the fall and remained conscious, there was no reason for her not to.

She staggered about several steps.

“I’m…I’m going to….I’m going to kill you!”

I started running toward her with the intention of delivering the mother of all kicks into her sternum.

With one kick, I would send her flying into the school building wall behind her.

I’d already torn away the rooftop courtyard fencing.

What difference was a hole in the wall going to make?

They could bill me. Rather, they could bill Arisa, though she would probably have to pay for the damages with her bottomless Black Credit Card.

Regardless, with this kick I was going to end this battle—before I ran out steam!

Unfortunately, the girl had other ideas.

Rearing her head and shoulders back, she screamed loudly in rage, just like a cartoon character or the final boss in a game just before they levelled up.

I skidded to a stop as black mist jetted out of the breach between Pocket and real-space taking place behind her.

In an instant she vanished from view, and my sensorium-field lost its fix on her as she was shielded by her Sarcophagus.

My heart pounded loudly, and fear warned me to get away.

Kicking off the ground, I leapt backwards, aided by an Icarus-field, and touched ground almost a hundred feet away.

The black mist continued to spread out over the central courtyard.

My heart continued drumming out a frenzied beat in my chest.

It was a beat I could do nothing about.

In truth, I was gripped in both panic and fear.

An incredible pressure was emanating from the breach.

It was like that killing intent that you read about in light-novels and manga.

It was so strong that it corrupted and distorted my sensorium-field.

And then I recognized if for what it was.

It was another sensorium-field gone wild – a field distorted by the unadulterated emotions radiating from the Familiar – from the Fragment’s Meister.

The girl with the Kavalier had flipped her lid.

In other words, she had gone ballistic – fully intercontinental – and her sensorium-field was acting like a medium for her rage, radiating it into the surroundings.

The breach warped the fabric of reality, making me feel nauseous for several heartbeats.

Then a loud boom trailed a shockwave that expanded like a giant donut.

With its epicenter at the point where the girl vanished, the donut of air blasted aside the black mist, clearing the courtyard in a heartbeat.

I braced against it, employing a Hecaton-field to anchor me to the ground, and an Icarus-field to push me into the shockwave.

Behind an Aegis-field that protected my body, I stared in the direction from whence the blast had originated…and my blood ran cold.

The girl was standing upright in Kavalier, but now a skirt of floating metal blades surrounded her in a semi-circle.

Her Kavalier had also upgraded, sporting armor such as golden-silver pauldrons that weren’t there before.

She looked much more like medieval knight in armor than she had a minute ago, and my blood ran cold as I realized that she had powered up, and I was screwed.

I was tired. I’d burnt through half my stamina.

I had no Symbiote to power me up inside.

I’d given away my chance to attain the Symbiote when I entrusted the vial of Arisa’s blood to Amiella. But I had no choice in the matter. Desanto had to be saved, and Arisa’s blood was the only thing that could do that.

But what about me?

Could I continue to fight her? What were my chances against her now?

Despair overwhelmed me, and my body began to tremble.

Giving way to fear, I stopped thinking rationally, and my subconscious took over.

Abruptly I wasn’t seeing the central courtyard or the girl in the upgraded Kavalier anymore.

I was seeing that street again.

I was back in that street – in that nightmare – smelling the stench of burnt composite metals and plastics in the air from the nearby burning cars.

I was six years old and I was helpless.

I was helpless.

Helpless to save her.

Helpless to save myself.

And striding toward me was a beautiful young woman with raven hair, clad in a blue and white Skin-Regalia.

In her right hand she hefted a weapon that resembled two broadswords joined at the pommel – a sword-spear – and behind her six glorious angel wings spread magnificently around her.

She smiled at me but it was a smile of pure hatred.

I was seeing it all over again.

I was experiencing that night all over again.

And I was going to die.

I was going to die.

I was going to die.

I was going...to die.

A scream ripped the air.

It was terrifying in its pureness.

Terrifying in its ferocity.

It was a scream that made the air tremble.

It was a scream that came from the darkness that haunted me since that night.

The young woman with the six angel wings charged at me.

And I leapt toward her with blades extended and my fangs out.

With a roar erupting past my throat, I slashed at the woman with all my strength.

My arm-blade met her sword-spear and I was flung back.

An instant later, Brynhildr answered my prayer and my world turned black as she swallowed me into her Sarcophagus.

– II –
(Haruka)

I was still alive.

I simply couldn’t believe it.

The arrow-headed lance had come within feet of Caelum and I.

Then the girl in the golden armor had crashed into the girl with scaled armor.

In the blink of an eye they had careened into the fencing to my right.

Ripping through part of it, and uprooting the surrounding fencing, the pair of them had crashed out of sight.

But I felt the ground shake and heard the loud boom that roared through the air.

Slowly I swept my gaze and surveyed the destruction before me.

The courtyard was an ruins, and parts of the ground had collapsed into the floor below.

I didn’t know if anyone had been caught in the falling debris.

I didn’t know if anyone had been hurt.

But I was alive…and Caelum was alive too.

I knew this because all of a sudden he began convulsing in my arms.

It started as a shiver, but grew violent within seconds.

I yelled at him. I screamed at him. But he continued jerking about madly in my arms.

I had to use all my weight to keep him down and the pressure on my breasts was agonizing.

I screamed in pain, feeling as though his convulsions would rip my arms out of their shoulder sockets.

Yet I refused to let him go.

I would not let him go.

Realistically, the entire event lasted for minutes yet it felt like an hour.

Then it ended just as it started.

The convulsions eased away, and Caelum became very still, so still I couldn’t hear him breathe – so still I couldn’t feel his heart.

“…Caelum…?”

I shook him gently.

“Caelum…?”

I shook him again, a little more forcefully this time.

“Caelum? Caelum, please wake up. Please wake up. Please wake up!”

I rocked him as I held onto him from behind.

“Caelum—please!”

I bowed my head, pressing my face into his right shoulder.

“Caelum…please…answer me….”

My eyes were squeezed shut, but they failed to hold back my tears.

They fell onto his shoulder and soaked his shirt.

“Please…even if you leave me…please…please be alive…please…even if we’re apart…as long as you’re alive…as long as you’re alive…please….God…please…don’t let him die….”

Something stroked my hair.

Startled, I jerked my head up and off his shoulder.

I realized it was a sudden breeze caused by the passage of two shadows that fell to the school’s central courtyard.

The ground trembled faintly and I heard two loud thumps resound in the air.

Not knowing what was happening, abandoned on the rooftop, I felt lost and alone.

It was too much for me to hold in and I began crying anew.

“…jeezes…Celi….”

I froze, my breath caught in my lungs, and my tears were cut off like someone had closed the faucet with a single sharp turn.

“…jeezes…who’s crying now….”

I swallowed a couple of times, and then looked down to see Caelum looking up at me.

His face was pale as though drained of blood, and his lips looked faintly blue.

But his eyes were steady as he held my gaze.

“…who’s crying now…Celi….”

He closed his eyes, and I felt a shudder run through his body.

Then I felt his chest rise and fall with each slow breath that he took.

He was alive.

I didn’t know how, but Caelum was alive.

Shaking my head, I then lowered it to his shoulder.

It didn’t matter to me how he was alive, just as I didn’t care for what was in the container.

Closing my eyes, I listened to the slow beating of his heart.

At that time, in a corner of the rooftop, all that mattered to me was that Caelum was alive.

Reflections – IV

More often than not, upon graduating from high school, a Familiar is faced with two choices.

Giving up their Artifact or Fragment, or continuing to use it.

If they choose to continue mastering or unlocking their Fragment, they can proceed down a number of avenues.

One of those avenues leads to tertiary education, or employment by their affiliated Pride. Alternatively, they can attend tertiary studies while being employed by the Pride.

Another avenue leads to entering tertiary academies run by the military organization known as the Sanctum.

These academies are the equivalent of the navy or army colleges back on Earth dating as far back as the sixteenth century, and Familiars train under the supervision of the Sanctum’s elite instructors, and attend classes designed to see them take up postings throughout Pharos and the Hurakan Nebula.

Familiars who graduate from the Sanctum can either continue with the organization, or join the smaller alternative known as Public Security that is formally based in Pharos, and rarely conducts operations outside of the immense asteroid colony.

When compared to the Pharos Self-Defense Force, of which the Enforcer Division is the policing arm employed within the colony, there is one important distinction that arises.

The Sanctum and Public Security rely heavily on Familiars and their Artifacts.

The PSDF does not.

In fact, there are no Familiars in the employ of the PSDF and its Enforcer Division.

None whatsoever.

Intro – V.
– I –
(Caprice)

For twenty – maybe twenty-five seconds – I was surrounded in darkness, and contained within Brynhildr’s Sarcophagus.

I could feel it working on me, stripping me, and then clothing me again.

The Valkyrie Armor sheathed my limbs.

And then I was cast out of the darkness and into the light.

Actually, I was tossed back into the chilling black mist that billowed out of the breach between Pocket and real-space caused when my Sarcophagus poked its head into the battle.

Why had the Sarcophagus breached real-space?

For what reason had it pulled me into its confines?

Whatever the reason, it would have to wait because a heartbeat after returning to real-space, the black mist surrounding me was blasted aside…and I along with it.

Seconds later I crashed into a building wall, cratering it with my body.

And the one responsible for sending me flying into the building was a beautiful redhead dressed in a blue-white dress – her Skin-Regalia – and flanked by six floating angel wings.

She slashed the air with her sword-spear

“Hey Brat! Do you wanna die?”

I was half buried into the wall, alive only because of the Aegis-fields that wrapped around me, but it was still one Hell of an impact. I was stunned, addled, and my vision swam a little so it was hard for me to focus on her.

Nonetheless, something was odd about this situation.

I wasn’t in the street filled with acrid, nauseating smoke.

I was back in the school quadrangle that contained the central courtyard.

And the woman facing me from a hundred feet away was a redhead, not a brunette.

More to the point, though she was using a Celestial type Artifact, a Seraphim, it clearly wasn’t the woman from my nightmare from ten years ago. But even if it wasn’t her – and that was a good thing – the identity of this woman was still a mystery, as was her reason for being here.

“Hey Brat! Didn’t you hear me? What’s the big idea picking a fight with me?”

With a loud groan and some effort, I pried myself free of the wall, leaving my body’s imprint behind, and then staggered several steps into the central courtyard.

I took a better look at the redhead who regarded me with an annoyed glare.

“Well, Brat? You looking to get yourself killed?”

I shook my head cautiously because it throbbed painfully.

“Well, you’re lucky you caught me in a good mood.” The young woman slashed the air with her large sword-spear. “Any other day, and I would have cut you in half.”

“Who…who are you?”

The redhead sighed heavily, and then leaned on her sword-spear, using it like a cane.

“Listen, Brat. Not only do you charge at me like a bat out of Hell, but you don’t introduce yourself either. Where are your manners?”

“Huh?” I stared openly in confusion at her, until her words sunk home. Straightening my stance, I then bowed to her slightly. “My name is Caprice Steiner afil Lanfear. My Guardian is Arisa Imreh Lanfear.”

The redhead broke into a frown. “Imreh? Ah!” Her eyes widened suddenly. “You mean the boss’s little sister?” The redhead half turned around to look toward the opposite end of the school’s courtyard. “Hey, Lancelot. Did you hear that? This brat has Arisa for a Guardian. Isn’t that a laugh.”

From some distance away, I heard a man’s voice ask, “Which brat? This brat?”

“No, you block head. This one. The crazy brat that attacked me without saying hello.”

“Oh, you mean the one who screamed like a banshee.”

“Yeah, that one. I thought she was going to spit fire brimstone at me. Sheesh. Talk about a royal welcome.”

I frowned to myself. Is that really what I sounded like?

I remembered screaming for murder but did I really sound like a banshee?

Curious as to whom she was talking to, I stepped sideways to peer around the redhead’s angel wings for a better look at the opposite end of the courtyard.

A hundred odd feet beyond her, a large man clad in a white Skin-Regalia, layered with armor that made him resemble a cross between medieval knight and a Samurai warrior, was stepping on something lying on the ground. With an inward jolt, I realized that he was stepping on the girl with the Kavalier, and all it took was a foot to her chest to keep her down.

Eight black wedge shaped wings floated around him, and I recognized them as Vector Wings.

I suddenly understood he was using their power to keep the girl down, making it look easy in the process.

Having fought the girl, I knew she was no push over, but the blatant difference in power between him and her almost made me feel sorry for her…almost.

But it also scared me because it brought home the gap between an Artifact and a Fragment.

The large man replied without looking back at the redhead. “Who did you say was the Guardian?”

The redhead inhaled noisily. “I said the brat’s Guardian is Arisa.”

“A—Arisa!” He stiffened sharply before jerking around to face the redhead sidelong. “The Goddess Arisa?”

“Haaaaah!” The redhead pulled the sword-spear free of the ground and raised it menacingly over her head. “Goddess? Who’s a goddess?”

The man she’d referred to as Lancelot waved his hands in a hurry, including the oversized longsword he held in one hand.
“Gu—Guinevere! Calm down. Calm down—whooops!”

Taking advantage of his distraction, the girl with the Kavalier pushed him away and then rolled clear of him.

She was on her feet in a flash, and the metal skirt of floating swords quickly surrounded her.

“Get away from me,” she yelled at them.

“Huh?” The redhead, Guinevere, sounded baffled. “What’s got your panties in a twist?”

The girl stared at her with hatred. “Useless. All of you are useless. Pathetic. Old. Useless.”

Guinevere dipped her head at the girl, and spoke coldly. “Hey, Brat. Watch who you’re calling old.”

The girl paid the warning no heed. “Where were you when my sister died?”

Guinevere and Lancelot both stiffened.

The girl railed at them. “Where were you when that traitor killed her?”

Guinevere and Lancelot exchanged a glance.

“Do you know what she’s talking about?” Guinevere asked and Lancelot shrugged his shoulders.

Seeing their puzzled response, the girl’s frustration boiled over into anger.

But she must have been rational enough to know that she could never win against them.

And so she ran away, bolting for the school behind her.

Guinevere shook her head slowly. “Hey, I didn’t say you could leave.”

The girl leapt toward the four storey building’s wall, apparently intending to then leap onto the rooftop, and flee from there out into the habitat.

Lancelot stepped forward. “I’ll bring her back—”

“No.” The redhead’s sharp tone stopped him in mid-step.

“Guin?”

The girl with the Kavalier landed on the ledge running outside the third floor.

Guinevere tapped her shoulder with her enormous sword-spear. “I need to vent before I explode.”

Lancelot sounded distressed. “Wait, Guin—!”

Stepping forward, the attractive redhead swung the weapon, giving it momentum, then threw it as she would a spear.

It vanished from her hand and reappeared a split second later, impaling the girl in the Kavalier Fragment to the building’s fourth floor wall.

It happened just as she made the jump from the ledge to the rooftop.

The girl didn’t even get to scream.

I watched in horror as her body twitched about like harpooned fish in its death throes.

Lancelot sounded somber. “Guinevere, I think you went too far.”

“Relax. I missed her vitals.”

I didn’t see how that was possible. The sword-spear’s blade was a foot wide.

Lancelot didn't sound convinced either. “Doesn’t look like you missed by much.”

The redhead tossed her long curly hair. “I might have been off a by a couple of inches. Don’t worry, according to Seraphim she won’t die for another minute. Just bring her down before she kicks the bucket. And don’t forget to shove the worm into her. It’ll keep her alive long enough for the trip to hospital.”

I realized she meant the Symbiote, because a lot of Familiars called it the worm.

I called it the worm once, and Arisa almost slapped me.

It was the only time she’d ever raised her hand at me.

Lancelot gave Guinevere a grim look. “It’s no wonder they call you the Merciless Queen.”

Guinevere shrugged after planting her hands on her hips, the six angel wings rising and falling gently around her. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

She turned to face me.

“Now then, what about you.”

I swallowed nervously. “Me?”

“Are you going to give me any trouble?”

I shook my head firmly, and retracted my arm-blades. “No, ma’am.”

She narrowed her eyes into thin slits. “Ma’am?”

I spoke quickly. “I mean, no…your Majesty?”

“That’s better. Commoners should know their place.” She glanced at Lancelot. “What are you waiting for? Get that idiot down before she dies. I don’t want to be filling out reports all day just because you were too slow to pull her off the wall.”

Lancelot exhaled heavily and then proceeded to save the girl before she expired.

I swallowed again. “Excuse me, your Majesty.”

“Yeah, what?”

“Um, your Majesty.” I pointed at the courtyard overhead with the missing fencing. “There’s an injured male student—”

“The ambulance is already on its way,” Guinevere said. “We called for one before we dropped into the school.”

I swallowed, took a quick breath, and then cautiously asked, “Then would you tell me who you are?”

The redhead grew very still. “Ah, that’s right. I haven’t introduced myself.” She pointed at herself. “I’m Guinevere. That lunk over there is Lancelot.”

I tried to hide my disappointment and confusion as that wasn’t what I was asking.

Guinevere then added, “We’re with Avalon.”

“Avalon…?” The name bounced around inside my head for a while, dislodging memories off the inside walls, and my eyes widened in recognition. “Avalon! You mean you’re Public Security Section Zero!” I leaned slightly toward the young woman. “Then your boss is Arisa’s elder brother?”

Guinevere looked like she’d swallowed something unpleasant. “Arisa Imreh. What’s so special about her?” Folding her arms under her breasts, the woman muttered bitterly, “What is it with men and giant boobs?”

I spared her chest a look.

“Oh...,” was all I said as I realized we were comrades-in-arms of a different kind.

Feeling faintly miserable, I looked down at my chest and froze in fright.

The Galatea Academy uniform I was wearing had vanished, replaced a black and gold bodysuit that fit me like a glove, thereby emphasizing my lack of breasts.

Is this…my Skin-Regalia?

Was this the reason why the Sarcophagus had opened the breach into real-space? Was it to dress me in the Skin-Regalia?

If so, this meant that I’d unexpectedly unlocked another piece of my Valkyrie Maiden.

In other words, I’d successfully levelled up while in the heat of battle.

Guinevere’s voice startled me. “I haven’t seen that design in a long time.”

I looked up and my gaze was caught by hers.

She regarded me through narrowed eyes. “Brat, your Fragment is Valkyrie Maiden type Brynhildr. Right?”

I nodded guardedly wondering how she knew my Fragment’s type.

Recognizing it for a Valkyrie was one thing.

But knowing which type was another.

She averted her eyes. “Seeing that pattern…reminds me of old times.”

Suddenly, she slapped her cheeks, then faced me with arms akimbo.

“Now, I wanna know what the Hell happened here. And you’d better have a good reason for tearing up the school.”

I held my breath for a moment, then replied, “In that case, I first need to give my Guardian a call.” I grimaced faintly. “And I may need legal counsel….”

– II –
(Caelum)

I had a dream where I was lying on my back, pillowed by Celica’s body.

My sister was holding me from behind, and crying into my shoulder.

In that dream, I tried to chide her for crying. After all, she was the one that told me to be strong at our parents’ funeral.

When I woke up, I could still feel Celica’s breasts against my back.

Perhaps because it was a dream, her breasts were unnaturally large.

Way, way larger than I remembered.

I guess my preference for big breasts had distorted my memory of my sister.

I woke up feeling oddly at ease.

No, it wasn’t because my fetish had invaded the dream. It was because I felt as though seeing her again, and just saying those words to her, had lifted a little of the burden of guilt that had weighed upon my heart since her death at the beginning of the year.

Opening my eyes, I was greeted by the sight of an unfamiliar room.

It looked to be a bedroom, perhaps a guest room, and it was large and spacious, with ornate furnishings that I recognized as antique in design.

I noticed I was lying on a large, comfortable bed with white sheets and covers.

I also observed that I was dressed in pajamas, so evidently someone had undressed me and seen me buck naked.

Reaching up, I touched my chest carefully.

Even through the fabric of my pajama shirt, I could feel an enormous scar.

Holding back a sigh, I stared up at the white ceiling and its swirling embossed patterns.

“I’m alive.”

“Yes, you are.”

My heart jumped in fright, and I scrambled to sit up.

Sitting on a chair some distance away from the bed was a young woman with flowing red hair and piercing green eyes. She was dressed in casual clothes, a pair of tight denim trousers, and black silk blouse with a few of its buttons undone.

I stared at her in awe for two reasons.

One, she was gorgeous, and I mean mouthwateringly gorgeous.

Two, she had an equally mouthwateringly impressive bust.

So for a short while I couldn’t decide where to look.

Her face, or her bust.

It was impossible to decide.

Eventually, with an effort of titanic proportions – I won’t say biblical as I don’t wish to offend – I succeeded in foregoing staring at her bust, and locked my gaze at her face instead.

The young woman smiled at me.

I could tell she knew exactly what I’d been struggling against.

I swallowed and tried to speak, but my voice broke.

It took me a third attempt to say, “Hello.”

She reached over to the bedside table where a platter, glass cup, and pitcher of water rested.

Filling the glass cup to the halfway mark, she handed it over to me.

“Drink up. Your throat will be dry.”

I took the cup, and sipped at the water.

As I did so, she stood up and readjusted the pillows behind me, thus helping me to sit up more comfortably on the bed.

With her body nearby, I could smell the intoxicating scent of the perfumes and lotions she used.

I tried not to peek at her cleavage or bosom snug in its designer bra, but I failed.

What was the point of fighting against the natural order of things?

I hid my disappointment when she sat back down on her chair.

But then she brought it closer.

She smiled at me again, and I sensed there was no malice behind it.

She was smiling at me warmly, sincerely, with just a hint of mischief and I realized I’d been caught red handed.

“Well,” she asked me softly. “Did you enjoy the view?”

I blushed hotly but I decided not to turn away and met her gaze. “Mistress Victoria.”

She blinked and frowned fleetingly. “I’m sorry.”

“Your bra. It’s Mistress Victoria.” I frowned to myself in thought. “From their Twilight Mistress line…?”

“….”

I realized I was staring intently at her chest, and yanked my gaze back up to her face. “Sorry. I think it’s Twilight Maiden.”

The beautiful redhead’s eyebrows drew together though the rest of her face remained placid and composed. “Pervert.”

I sighed and my shoulders sagged. “I know….”

“And you’re half correct. It’s Mistress Victoria but from their Midnight line, not the Twilight range.”

My eyes opened wide as I listened to her. “Ah, of course! The embroidery along the—”

“Stop!” She raised a hand sharply. “Let’s save that discussion for another time.”

“Huh? Oh!” I blushed again, and bowed to her from a seated position. “My apologies. I’m truly sorry. I get carried away. Women’s lingerie is a passion of mine.”

“It’s fine. It’s fine. I won’t slap you for it, or for peeking down my blouse.” She raised a finger. “Consider it a freebie. The next time it will cost you.”

“How much?”

“Huh?” She blinked sharply.

“For another peek. How much?”

“A slap.”

I pressed my lips together and mulled it over. “Okay. That’s a fair deal.”

The redhead stared at me quietly for a long while, then calmly folded her arms under her breasts. “Forget I made that offer.”

Pressing my lips together to hide my immense disappointment, I chose to change subjects. “Then may I ask who you are?”

She blinked sharply again. “Oh, of course.” She patted her chest lightly. “My name is Arisa Imreh Lanfear.”

“Lanfear? Then…you’re an Aventis.”

She nodded gently. “Yes, I am.”

“You must be a Pureblood.”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “Why do you say that?”

I swallowed before reply, “Purebloods are born with the Symbiote inside them. They don’t acquire it during their teenage years.”

She gave me a single nod this time. “That is correct.”

“Pureblood girls are prettier than other Aventis girls.”

“Heh?” Her lips parted slightly and she may have blushed.

“So it stands to reason that you’re a Pureblood,” I deduced.

“Why?” No, she was definitely blushing.
“Because you’re very beautiful.”

For a long while she said nothing. Then she rose from her chair, and said, “Excuse me.”

She left the room but would returned a few minutes later.

During the time that I was left alone, I sipped the water in the cup as I looked about the room, and then turned my attention to the view visible through the curtained window.

The sun shining overhead indicated we were in a habitat that possessed a sky-field, but I didn’t know which habitat.

Turning to the bedside table, I noticed my palm-slate on it.

Picking it up, I turned the device on, and after waiting for it boot up, I used it to check my location using the map function. As I was doing so, I noticed that it was Saturday morning, but then I saw something that made me shiver in fright.

A moment later, Arisa Imreh Lanfear returned to the room, and resumed sitting on her chair. “Now then. Where were we—” She noticed my state, the palm-slate in my hand, and then sighed softly. “So, you noticed.” She sighed again, and folded her hands demurely over her lap. “Yes, it’s been three weeks since the incident.”

I turned to face her. “Three…weeks…?”

She nodded somberly. “You were in a coma for more than two weeks since the incident. You woke up two days ago for a short while, then fell unconscious again, but the doctors said it wasn’t a coma this time. I decided to have you moved here, to my family’s home in Island One.”

The palm-slate trembled in my hands, so I lowered it to my lap.

“I’ve been…asleep for three weeks.”

“Pretty much.”

I looked away from Arisa. “Would you…would you tell me what happened?”

“In due time,” she replied smoothly. “But for now, there are some things that I need to tell you first.”

I shifted my attention back onto her, and her eyes met mine.

“What things?” I asked, feeling dread creeping through me.

“That you are alive and well.”

“…okay….”

“And that your body has Awakened. You are now no longer a Regular.”

I had the uncomfortable sensation of dread wash through me. “Am I…an Aventis?”

“No.” She shook her head slowly.

“Then what am I?”

“You are a Familiar, and you Awakened to my blood.”

“What?”

“You Awakened to the Symbiote inside my body. As a result, you are now affiliated with the Lanfear Pride.”

I stared at her in abject disbelief.

A long while later I cleared my throat and nervously said, “But my body has no compatibility with the Symbiotes.”

She shook her head, then crossed her legs. “You have no compatibility as an Aventis. But as a Familiar, your compatibility is extraordinary.”

“It is?”

“Yes. In fact, it’s so exceptional that it saved your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“You died, Caelum. On that rooftop. You died.”

My chest tightened and I couldn’t breathe. “What? But I’m alive. How could I have died?”

“You died. And the Symbiote resurrected you.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that I could only stop and stare her…and not her boobs.

After a short while, she continued. “Your childhood friend, Haruka Amiella Avenir, injected you with my blood. She did so at the behest of my ward, Caprice Steiner afil Lanfear, who supplied it to her. Caprice then dealt with the girl who’d stabbed you through the chest.”

I didn’t remember much about what happened.

I did recall being stabbed but everything else after that was a blank.

I sensed Imreh watching me, and met her gaze. “Haruka was on the rooftop?”

“Yes. Don’t be concerned. She’s alive and well. But we’ll get to her later.” She tipped her head slightly to a side. “You’re not fully grasping how momentous your resurrection was.”

“I wouldn’t say that all. But doesn’t the Symbiote do the same for the Aventis?”

“No, it does not.”

I broke into a frown. “It…it doesn’t?”

“While an Aventis is alive, the Symbiote does its best to ensure they are in the best physical condition possible. The younger an Aventis, the more time the Symbiote has to improve up them during their teenage years. That’s why Aventis are for the most part—how shall I say this—closer to the human ideal.” She laughed softly. “That’s why Aventis girls are prettier.”

I nodded shallowly and continued to listen quietly.

“In a Pureblood, the Symbiote gets a head start”—she smiled at me coyly—“in making us pretty.”

“I can appreciate that.”

Her smile turned into a smirk but it only lasted a moment. “So all is well and good while the host is still alive. But when the host dies, the Symbiote makes no attempt to save them. The body stops. The Symbiote stops. Surprising, isn’t it. Not at all what you would expect.”

She was right. It wasn’t what I was expecting to learn at all.

From the get go, Regulars were taught about how superior the Aventis were, and while that was true, expecting the Symbiote to just give up on their host when the going got tough was a little disappointing to hear.

“You’re saying you only get the Symbiote’s benefit while you’re alive.”

“Correct. But for a Familiar, it’s different. When a Familiar ingests the Symbiote into their bloodstream, it grows at an accelerated rate, and boosts a Familiar’s strength, resilience, and healing ability beyond those of an Aventis. But as the saying goes, the candle that burns twice as brightly, burns twice as fast. The Symbiote lasts a week, perhaps two, within the Familiar’s body. But during that time, even the weakest Familiar outshines the strongest Aventis. And unlike with an Aventis, the Symbiote does attempt to heal, and resurrect a Familiar in death. In other words, it goes the extra mile.”

She leaned toward me in her chair.

“In your case, it went an extra two miles. According to the specialists who examined your body in our medical lab, it patched up your wound, plugged your perforated lung, did a little spinal repair work, and then restarted your body long after you had clinically died.”

Hearing her talk about me dying in such a calm, yet earnest manner, made me queasy. I struggled to keep it down, and it was a tough fought battle.

“Why? Why would it do that?”

“Because the Symbiote likes you,” she replied softly. “For some reason that our specialists can’t determine, your compatibility is rarely seen amongst Familiars, and it’s not a mistake. The tests were not wrong about you.”

“So that means…I’m special.”

“You are indeed. And my Pride would like to take good care of you. To be specific, the Imreh Family would like to take good care of you, without looking like we’re being too preferential.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have other Familiars that we manage.”

“Manage? Like a talent agency?”

Imreh smiled thinly. “That’s one way of putting it. Giving preference to one over the others wouldn’t go down well, though in truth, it’s for us to decide whom we support and how we employ them. To do that we need to determine their value. One method is to test their compatibility with the various Fragments in our possession. Some of them are prized items and quite valuable to the Imreh Family and Lanfear Pride. Some are thought of as heirlooms that date back to the War of Supremacy. And we would like to test your compatibility with them, to see which one suits you best.”

“So I’m valuable to you, because I’m of use to you.”

“That’s a rather cynical way of putting it, but very much true.”

“Well at least your being honest. And my reasons for resenting and despising your kind are justified.”

“You blame the Aventis for your parents death.”

“Of course. Your actions, your philosophies, your ideology and practices toward Regulars and Familiars gave birth to Crimson Crescent. Bad karma. You treated them like shit, and it landed back on your dinner plate. But it cost people their lives. It cost my parents their lives.”

“I lost my parents in that explosion as well.”

My breath caught in my chest.

Her eyes were unwavering as she looked into mine. “I know what loss is.”

I swallowed and it sounded loud in my ears. “Were your parents innocent like mine?”

“I don’t know. That’s the question I’ve been trying to answer for more than six years. What was my parents involvement in that incident? What part did they play? What is the Imreh Family—my family—hiding from me.”

Puzzled, I cocked my head at her. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“Adults have many secrets. Families have many secrets. Mine is no different. And they are keeping the truth from me. They know this. I know this. That’s the current state of play.”

Swallowing again, more quietly this time, I studied her expression but she was giving nothing away.

“I’d offer you my condolences, but I don’t feel for your loss.”

She gave me a subtle nod. “I know. I don’t blame you for the way you feel.”

“And you shouldn’t.”

“But despite your animosity toward the Aventis, I would like to hope that you and I can work together.”

“As master and slave.”

“As Guardian and ward.”

“Just what exactly does that mean?”

“It means that we take care of you, while you learn to unlock and master the Artifact we assign to you. And then you employ that Artifact to benefit our interests.”

“So I’m being drafted.”

“Think of it as training with benefits.”

I looked away from her, and glanced at the view out the window, the habitat buildings indistinct behind the curtain.

I cleared my throat gently. “That girl said my sister was a Familiar.” I turned back to Imreh. “Is that true?”

She gave no sign of being surprised by my changing the subject of the conversation. “Yes.”

Her reply knocked me off balance. “That can’t be.”

“Your sister Awakened when she was sixteen. According to the records on file, she was already a Familiar at the time of the death of your parents.”

I tried to accept what she was telling me, but I couldn’t. “That can’t be. That can’t be. Celica would have said something. My parents would have said something.”

Imreh tilted her head at me. “Would they? How did you feel about Familiars back then?”

“I…they scared me. I don’t know why but they scared me.”

“How would you have felt knowing your sister was a Familiar? How would you have felt knowing this after your parents died?”

I opened my mouth but the reply I had was impulsive, uncertain, and so tossed it away.

Imreh nodded as though she understood me better than I did. “Regardless of what she was, your sister is still your sister. That will never change. Nor will her feelings toward you as her brother. She worked hard to ensure that you were raised properly. And it was hard for her as a teenage girl to do so.”

Yes, it was hard for Celica, because I wasn’t the best brother I could have been.

It was hard for her because I made it hard for her, and that is a deep regret of mine, one I will carry forever, until the day I die and see her again in the afterlife…and tell her how sorry I was for being such an asshole.

My throat felt tight, and not wanting to show weakness before this Aventis woman, I fought back my tears and focused on my next question.

“Is it true…was my sister the target of a covert operation?”

“That I don’t know,” Imreh replied without hesitation, “and it’s something we’re looking into with quiet inquiries. However, the truth is that your sister did not work as a civilian contractor for Paladin, the largest Private Military Consortium operating out of Pharos.”

“Then…who did she work for?”

Imreh hesitated for a second. “Your sister worked for the Sanctum as the Meister of a Valkyrie Maiden, and she led a squad of Valkyries.”

I stared at Imreh blankly for a short while, before finding my voice. “She was Valkyrie Maiden.”

“Yes, and by all accounts she was a very good one. Top of her class. And on the fast track to rise through the Sanctum’s ranks. What she did for the Sanctum is classified, but what is known is that special operations were her forte, and that she died in a black op that took place around this time last year. That is the official answer we received from the Sanctum. But whether that is true or not is something we are trying to determine.”

“Who is Constance Peligree”

Imreh glanced away, and I wondered if she was going to sidestep my question, but didn’t. “Constance is the younger sister of a Familiar in the employ of the Sanctum, and a member of a squad of Siren Maidens, a termination unit known as the Sirens of the Slaughter.”

I had to swallow again before I could ask, “Then it’s possible that what she said was true?”

“It’s also possible that the Sirens of the Slaughter were the targets and not your sister. However, we aren’t getting an answer out the Sanctum, so what we know is barely better than speculation”—Imreh straightened in her chair—“which is why you shouldn’t let it cloud your thoughts or judgment.”

I glanced down at the palm-slate resting on my lap.

Imreh was holding back on me. I had no doubt of that. But pressing her too much here and now, didn’t feel like it would work.

I needed to try a different approach.

Like she suggested, I needed to be rational. I would also need to be patient, but I had one more pressing concern.

“You said Haruka saved me.” I faced Imreh. “How is she?”

Imreh’s lips parted and she stared at me fixedly for a moment, before relaxing.

Then she brought her chair a little closer to the bed.

“Haruka Amiella Avenir is fine. She wasn’t injured.”

I narrowed my eyes at Imreh. “But?”

Again, Imreh was very still. Then she sighed and bowed her head slightly.

“This is going to take a while to explain. Maybe I should bring us some tea….”
 

---

All the chapters were renumbered to make it easier to sort and read.
They are listed below:

(Posted chapters)
Kaiser's Blessing - 01 - Reflections 0
Kaiser's Blessing - 02 - Intro I
Kaiser's Blessing - 03 - Reflections I
Kaiser's Blessing - 04 - Intro II
Kaiser's Blessing - 05 - Reflections II
Kaiser's Blessing - 06 - Intro III
Kaiser's Blessing - 07 - Reflections III
Kaiser's Blessing - 08 - Intro IV
Kaiser's Blessing - 09 - Reflections IV
Kaiser's Blessing - 10 - Intro V

(Upcoming chapters)
Kaiser's Blessing - 11 - Reflections V
Kaiser's Blessing - 12 - Run in with a Princess.
Kaiser's Blessing - 13 - Reflections VI
Kaiser's Blessing - 14 - Run in with a Countess.

Intro III and IV were split up to make them smaller and more manageable.
Reflections I and II were rewritten to make them more informative.

I'm sorry for any confusion this has caused.

Thank you for sticking with it thus far.

The original version of the novel, Pride X Familiar ReVamp can be found here on Amazon.
It'll be free until the 28th.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017ORASOO

Best wishes.

From the author of the Gun Princess Royale, comes the continuing saga of a young man that should know better and the girls who toy with him...

---

Reflections – V

That’s how I died and was resurrected as a Familiar, and came to be affiliated with – or under the thumb of – the Lanfear Pride.
After the incident, I spent three weeks lying unconscious. and every waking month afterwards deep in physical training all the way to the beginning of the subsequent school year.

But returning to Sanderson High School for Regulars was out of the question.

The Lanfear and Avenir Prides had succeeded in using their legal clout to suppress the fact that Haruka and I had been involved in the incident. But they weren’t able to hide the damage to the school. Nor were they able to keep a lid on the truth that the battle had been between Familiars with Fragments fighting on public property.

By the way, Sanderson High is a public school, not a private school, and luckily for it the incident happened as the school closed for the mid-year break, so there was a five week period during which repairs could be carried out without the risk of interrupting the teaching curriculum.

As I was saying, they couldn’t hide the fact that Familiars had ripped up the school, and though no students were injured, many of them claimed they were traumatized and demanded compensation. Of course, it was monetary compensation that they were after.

To keep me out of the spotlight, Arisa had already enrolled me at another school so that I could complete the remainder of my first year in high school. It was situated in Island Three, Habitat Three, and close to her apartment. I also had to move out of the apartment my sister Celica and I had lived in for ten years, and relocate out of Island Two to take up residence in Island Three, Habitat Three.

It was another connection that I cut with Haruka, and for the first time in ten years, she and I would no longer be neighbors, and it was fair to say my childhood friend and I were moving away from each other in more ways than one.

My sudden departure from Sanderson High had sparked some rumors that I was involved in the fight on the rooftop and school courtyard. These rumors circulated amongst the student body – I knew this because I read the talk on social media – but without hard evidence, they never gained momentum.

As for Haruka, her disappearance was easy to explain.

She was an Aventis now – a member of the Avenir Pride – so it was natural for her to transfer to a school for Aventis students, and she wasn’t the only girl to be accepted into a Pride. Thus, she was one of several students to transfer out of Sanderson for greener pastures.
I asked Arisa which Academy Haruka was now attending, but Arisa claimed she didn’t know. She did say she could find out for me, but in the end I decided that wasn’t necessary. I’d cut my ties with her, and she had been forced to do the same. And considering that Arisa said I was probably still a target, it was better if Haruka stayed as far away from me as possible.

As for me being a target, that was because not all the individuals involved in the attempt on my life had been apprehended.

But…that’s something I’ll save for later because there’s more that I need to tell you.

As Arisa is prone to saying, everything in due time.

- # -

For around six months, I attended my new school as a Familiar incognito amongst a flock of Regulars.

That is, my identity as a Familiar was suppressed.

This wasn’t a unique occurrence. I learnt from Arisa that many Prides enrolled their Familiars in schools for Regulars for a period of time. But once those Familiars officially gained their Fragment and were entered into the registry as Specials, then they were required to attend one of the five Aventis Academies of Pharos. This is because as Specials, they were authorized to wear their link to their Fragment. But after the incident at Sanderson High, there was much heated debate and argument regarding Familiars running around loose with Fragments and Artifacts. In response to this, the Primogen Council agreed to strengthen the regulations governing the conduct of Specials.

The biggest change to the rules was that Specials were now required to wear a restraining collar.

The collar would react to any use of a Fragment’s abilities such as the summoning of their effect-fields.

At its maximum output, the collar could deliver a paralyzing shock that would even incapacitate an Aventis. Yes, it was that strong. However, it delivered the shocks in warning stages that escalated the longer a Familiar summoned their Fragment’s power. If an unauthorized attempt to remove the collar was made, then it would discharge all of its energy in one hit, either killing or severely injuring the Familiar.
It was supposed to make people feel more secure around Familiars that were armed with Fragments or Artifacts.
Instead, it made them wary of Familiars, and it changed the way both Regulars and Aventis interacted with us.

Quite frankly it sucked, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Eventually, I too was required to wear a collar when the Imrehs and Lanfears assigned me – imprinted me – to a Fragment and registered me as a Special.

Eventually, I was to feel the subtle discrimination and aversion that other Familiars were experiencing.

- # -

As I’d mentioned before, I spent months enduring physical training to toughen me up, and prepare me for using a Fragment.

This training is ongoing, and it’s something I attend to everyday though the format and place has since changed. But back then while I was living on my own near Arisa’s apartment, I trained with Caprice at a small refurbished warehouse located in a light industrial zone within Island Three, Habitat Two. It served as our personal training complex, and had been outfitted with protective effect-field emitters that prevented or at the least reduced the damage to the structure and surroundings as Caprice and I endured long hours of training each day after classes.
Our training was conducted by Instructors appointed by the Imreh Family, and the two of us were quite privileged to be receiving such personal training. It was akin to having private tutors or coaches, except that these Instructors were teaching us the basics on how to use our Fragments without hurting ourselves.

Actually, I was the one being taught the basics.

Caprice was further along the learning curve, having received her Valkyrie Maiden at the beginning of the year. So she had a lead of several months on me.

During that time my compatibility was tested with a number of the Lanfear Prides’ Artifacts to see which one responded to me best, and vice versa. These items were also locked down in a Fragment state, and the imprinting I received was temporary as it was only intended to teach me the basics of how to operate a Fragment and summon its various effect-fields.

It wasn’t until a month before the new year that the Lanfears and Imrehs came to a decision on which one I would use.

The Artifact I was ultimately bonded to was a weapon – a Ruler Class armor – dating back to the War of Supremacy between humans and Aventis. Apparently it was supposed to be quite powerful, even amongst other Ruler Class Artifacts, and Arisa told me it had been wielded in battle by a famous general, but she wouldn’t elaborate further and when I tried to inquire on my own, I was suspiciously stonewalled. But as powerful as it was, or may have been, with its Core locked down it wasn’t an Artifact anymore, but a Fragment.

The name of this Fragment was Kaiser’s Blessing.

---

Apologies for the delay. Have been busy working on GPR 2 so this was sidelined while I sorted out problems with the plot.

I'll set the original version of this story to free for another 5 days on Amazon KDP.

Best wishes to all.

Intermezzo.
– I –
(Caelum)

Island Three. Habitat Three.

New Year’s Eve.

I made the mistake of challenging Caprice to a bout the day before.

Nearly six months of arduous training had toughened me up to a level I’d never imagined was possible for me. Part of it was because of Arisa’s Symbiote that would occasionally invade my body when the researchers had need to study my body’s response to the worm. The rest of it was due to hard training and the fact that as a Familiar, my body improved quicker than that of a Regular. So I was confident in what had been hammered and drilled into me by my two Instructors, and challenged Caprice to a match on what was much more than a whim.

It was a duel, so to speak…and I lost.

Why? Because I’m an idiot who challenged her with a handicap.

Caprice had the Symbiote inside her at the time, and I didn’t.

As a consequence, my body ached from the pounding I’d received at her hands and feet. With the worm inside me, it would have healed most of the bruising by now. I was offered the Symbiote, but I turned it down. This was pain I needed to carry with me, to teach me a lesson not to underestimate the fairer sex.

Have I mentioned that when Caprice moves it’s like a ballet – pure poetry in motion.

I guess her dance lessons before she became a Familiar were paying off for her.

When combined with the martial arts training she was receiving, it was downright lethal.

She had stopped short of breaking or fracturing my bones, but despite the fact we’d been wearing sparring armor, my body was sporting bruises it didn’t have before.

Oh, I should also mention that we weren’t allowed to use our Fragments or summon any effect-fields. That was something to be saved for another match, and this time I wouldn’t be giving Caprice any handicap.

Because she was a girl, I’d made the mistake of taking her too lightly.

I think that’s why Caprice hit me so hard.

It wasn’t that she was angry at being challenged, but angry that I’d chosen to give her the handicap. She probably felt that I was being unfair and treating her like a girl.

But what the Hell was I supposed to do? She was a girl.

True, I trained with her almost every day, and we sparred quite often, with and without our Fragments, but deep down I couldn’t overcome my reluctance to hit her, and I suspected that she knew that.

Lying on my bed, I threw an arm over my face, and winced as my shoulder ached.

But I did really deserve to be hit so hard?

- # -

My apartment Monitor informed me that someone was at the door.

I really didn’t know why the Monitor did so. It was pretty obvious someone was at the door since they’d rung the bell, and I’d heard the chime as I dozed on my unkempt bed.

Checking the clock on my bedside table, I saw that it was eleven a.m. in the morning.

We had no training scheduled for today, so who the Hell was at the door?

The chime rang again.

“Give me a minute,” I called out, and the Monitor relayed it to whomever was outside the door.

Exchanging my t-shirt and track pants for some decent clothes, I brushed a hand through my hair, and rubbed at my face as I walked down the short corridor to the door.

Passing the door to the bathroom, I quickly ducked inside and washed my face and hands, drying them hurriedly on a towel by the entrance.

Out in the corridor, I used the security console to see who was waiting outside.

I grimaced. “…shit…what is she doing here…?”

I opened the front door a little, enough for my head and shoulders to be seen.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

Rarely did we greet each other with, “hello, how was your day?”

I guess she didn’t see the point and neither did I. After all, we were seeing each other regularly on a daily basis. So in that respect there was no separation between us.

It just felt like a waste of time.

Standing outside the apartment on the open air balcony running along the outside of the building, Caprice Steiner shook her head gently. “No.”

“Then…why are you here?”

“It’s New Year’s Eve.”

“Yeah, I know….”

“I’m not busy,” she informed me.

I frowned slightly. “Okay…good for you….”

“You’re not busy either.”

My frown deepened. “As a matter of fact I am.”

“You are?”

“I’m busy giving my body time to recover.”

“Are you well enough to walk?”

I hesitated as I wondered where this stilted conversation was going. “I am.”

Caprice nodded just once. “You said that the winner could demand one thing of the loser. Correct.”

My frown faded as I grimaced. “Yeah, I did say that but—”

“But that was because you expected to win.”

“Well, obviously.”

“But you lost.”

I sighed and opened the door a little more, making sure to keep my attention on her face, and not on her outfit that was surprisingly girly for a change. “So why are you here?”

“To pick you up. If I told you to meet me at the station it is highly unlikely that you would show up.”

“Maybe.” Unable to contain the urge, I glanced down at her outfit, then back up to her face. “Maybe not.”

Caprice stood silently for a moment. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

I considered my options, then shook my head as I stood aside and opened the door for her. “Come in.”

“Thank you.” She stepped past the threshold. “Pardon the intrusion.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I closed the door behind her. “The place is a mess. Sorry. I was too tired and beaten to clean up after I got home last night.” I walked past Caprice who stood quietly in the corridor. “Do you want something to drink?”

She followed me round the corridor bend into the living area that served as both bedroom, living room, and kitchen.

My apartment was like a million others, not too big, but not too small.

It had a balcony view of the apartment complex’s open middle. This is because the building was constructed like a steep Aztec pyramid with a hollow center. But because of this, the view was of the balconies of the hundreds of other apartments in the complex. In other words, it wasn’t much of a view unless you wanted to peep at your neighbors walking around in the birthday suits.

And yes, there were a couple of girls living in an apartment on the opposite side of the building who did that, but they weren’t my type so I got bored of them real quick.

Yes, I do have a type.

I opened the refrigerator door to show Caprice what I had.

She pulled out a lemon soda that I happened to buy yesterday at a convenience store on my way home.

Closing the door to the refrigerator, I looked at her properly this time.

As always since the new regulations came into play, she wore the thin black collar around her neck with the pendant bearing the Phoenix emblem of the Lanfear Pride. Since it was something we couldn’t take off without authorization, I wore it too. We had to eat with it, sleep with, bathe with it. There was no escaping the damn thing. But I looked past the collar, and focused on her attire.

Caprice was wearing sneakers that resembled tennis shoes, and a pair of denim shorts with a white belt that accentuated her toned behind and long sleek legs.

Caprice is shorter than I am, standing five foot five to my five foot eight, but seen from afar, you’d think she was a tall girl because she’s slender and her legs are quite long. I knew this because of seeing her in her training leotard and her Skin-Regalia.

But right now, I was surprised to see her legs on display.

Other than the occasions when wearing her school uniform, Caprice always wore pants. Whether they be trousers, slacks, or trackies, she never wore in a skirt or dress when out in public. In fact, on every occasion we’d spent together outside the hours of school and training, she was always keeping her pins under wraps.

I’ll be the first to admit that was a darn tooting shame.

Legs like hers needed to be out on display.

Complementing her shorts and shoes, she wore a light grey halter top that forewent the spaghetti straps for the thicker kind. However, it left her shoulders exposed and her arms bare. It didn’t have a plunging neckline, but it did promote the contours of her breasts. Sadly, they weren’t much to mention. But then I frowned inwardly, and gave her bosom another quick look.

Was there indeed some improvement in that area?

Could it be that over the past six months some much needed development was afoot?

Were the gods in high heaven finally granting this girl the bosom she so mightily deserved?

I was wearing the Kaiser’s Blessing’s bracelet, so I summoned its sensorium-field at low level so that the collar wouldn’t notice.

Cautiously, I extended it toward her chest.

Immediately I sensed another sensorium-field blocking my field.

When I pushed, it pushed back, or rather she pushed back.

“Caelum.”

“Yes?” I was trying to out-wrestle her sensorium-field, looking for an opening.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to verify something for myself.”

“Am I wearing a padded bra?”

“Ah…yeah….”

“Give up. I’m not going to tell you.”

“Then let me check for myself.”

“Give up. You won’t succeed.”

I growled in the back of my throat and worked my sensorium-field into various shapes and forms, trying to get it past her field that was blocking mine.

After a minute or so, Caprice sighed wearily. “Caelum, you can’t beat me at this.”

“If I can beat you at thumb wrestling, I can beat your sensorium-field.”

“Caelum, I don’t check out your package so don’t check out mine.”

“You’re welcome to do so. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Damn, she was quick. No matter how I tried slipping my field past hers, she managed to cut me off or disrupt it.

“This is not why I came here,” she murmured in her usual monotone, but this time it sounded even flatter than was customary for her.

I stopped fighting her and withdrew my Kaiser’s sensorium-field. “Why are you here?”

“You lost the match. Therefore I’m here to collect.”

“Collect what?”

“Collect you.”

I frowned at her. “Why?”

“Because it’s New Year’s Eve, and you’re going to treat me.”

“What? Again? I treated you on Christmas Eve.”

Caprice narrowed her eyes a fraction of a millimeter and then slowly crossed her arms.

Something on her left wrist glinted and I glanced at it.

My heart stumbled when I noticed she was wearing the bracelet I gave her as a Christmas present. Caprice had given me a rather stylish gentleman’s watch that I was a little too afraid to wear out in public for fear of damaging it.

“Like I said,” she repeated without inflection, “you lost the match.”

I sighed long and heavily, allowing my shoulders to sag. “So you want me to take you out on a date.”

“No, not a date. We’re not a couple therefore it won’t be a date.”

I felt my heart twinge upon hearing her say that. “Fine. Whatever. But you’re going to have to give me a little time to get ready.”

She nodded shallowly, and held up the fabric shopping bag she carried in her left hand. “I brought breakfast.”

“You brought or you bought breakfast?” I knew for a fact that Caprice can’t cook to save her life, and she admitted once that Home Economics is her worst grade at Galatea Academy.

“Both,” she replied, and stepped around me to the kitchen counter. “I’ll heat it up and make some tea.”

I started rubbing my hair, and then stopped.

There was no point arguing with her, and to be honest, I wasn’t bothered by her presence.

“Just give me a half hour,” I said to her.

“Twenty minutes.”

“Twenty-five.”

“No, twenty minutes.”

“I can’t hurry.”

“If you’re ready in twenty minutes, I’ll tell you if I’m wearing a padded bra or not.”

I stared at her for a second or two, then hurried to wash up and get changed for an outing.

Taking a shower and getting dressed in record time, I checked the clock on my bedside table.

It was then that I noticed Caprice had cleaned up my apartment…again.

Almost every time she was over, she would clean the place up.

Even the bed sheets had been changed, and I saw that my laundry basket was full.

Caprice had warmed up the breakfast of muffins and rolls she’d bought from a convenience store, and there was the scent of hot tea wafting through the air.

A gently breeze blew in through the open glass balcony doors at ran along one wall of the multifunction living area.

It served to air out the apartment.

I pulled up to the counter one of the two stools I had bought a couple of months ago when Caprice started coming over more often.

Sitting at the counter, I thanked the gods for the grub, and ate up the convenience store food.

Caprice did the same, and we finished breakfast in silence.

Then she slid a box of painkillers over the counter toward me. “Here.”

I took it, read the instructions, and then downed two capsules, helped along by the remainder of my warm tea.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Apology accepted,” she replied mechanically.

“Next time I’ll take you seriously.”

“I’m not wearing a padded bra.”

Her revelation was so sudden that I froze for a heartbeat before my gaze dropped to her chest.

Mentally, I pumped a fist in the air.

Yes! Boobies. Finally. Can’t wait to see her in a swimsuit.

Keeping my face unreadable, I indicated the bathroom with a wave of my right hand. “You wanna freshen up.”

“Yes, please. Thank you.” She offered me a slight bow, then walked gracefully into the bathroom.

I sat at the counter for a while, and then disposed of the empty plastic containers after rinsing them clean.

Then I walked over to my inbuilt closet, opened the doors, and pulled out a drawer.

Taking out the black box with the watch inside, I opened it, and retrieved the timepiece.

I read the inscription on the back, then slipped the watch over my left wrist.

Putting the box away, I shut the drawer, then closed the doors to the in-built closet, but not before staring at my reflection in the mirror mounted on the inside of the door.

“…what the Hell are we doing…?”

I shook my head slowly, and shut the closet’s door.

– II –

When did we start hanging out?

I can’t really remember.

It just sort of happened.

After training on a Thursday, we grabbed a bite to eat.

The following Thursday we did the same, and then wasted time at a local arcade.

I guess we were looking for a way to wind down after a long day of school and training.

And so it became a habit, and Thursday became our night of doing nothing, of simply unwinding.

I bought her a gift for Christmas – a thank you for everything.

Though I made new friends at the new school in Island Three, there was a limit to how friendly I could get as I had to keep my secret of being a Familiar from them.

But it was different with Caprice.

I could talk to her about things that I couldn’t talk to with my classmates.

I didn’t have to hide who I was from her, and she accepted my lecherous behavior, though I kept testing her to see how far she would bend before snapping back at me.

Caprice wasn’t as open with me as I was with her, so it took me a while to learn what life at Galatea Academy was like for her.

It was more or less what I’d come to picture.

Friendless, cold, and lonely.

There were other Familiars in other classes, but Caprice wasn’t a part of their circle.

Then one Thursday night, while we were gorging ourselves on junk food to replenish everything we’d burnt through during two hours of arduous training, I saw firsthand what some of her classmates were like. We had the misfortune of running into them which was surprising since Galatea Academy is located in Island Three, Habitat One, and we were stuffing ourselves in a fast food joint in Habitat Two.
The change to the regulations governing Familiars had come into effect by then, and Caprice and I were both wearing our collars. I hadn’t received the Kaiser’s Blessing yet, so I was temporarily bonded to a Fragment known as a Chevalier.

Caprice’s classmates were sitting nearby, talking between themselves, but making sure we could hear them and their not-so-subtle innuendos.

I knew that girls can be cruel. As a guy, I didn’t really care for gossip so it was water off my back. But girls react to words differently, and I could sense that Caprice was growing increasingly uncomfortable through her expressionless façade. So when we finished up, I took both our trays to the waste disposal bins. As I did so, I decided payback was in order.

Extending a thin Hecaton-field toward the bustiest girl in the group, a petite blonde with a voluptuous chest hidden under her school blouse, I unhooked her bra.

She had been leaning forward with her elbows on the table, so you could hear the heavy whump as her bust landed on it. There was a surprised silence followed by gasps of shock and faux concern from her companions as they asked her what had happened.
When I returned to the table, the girls were too busy with their embarrassed friend to bother Caprice any longer, and we left unnoticed.

Sad to say, we did encounter those girls a few more times afterwards.

Happy to say my skill at unhooking bras improved tremendously, and so too my skill at unbuttoning blouses inconspicuously.

Surprised to say that those dimwits never noticed I was responsible for their wardrobe malfunctions, and while unleashing punishment, I also learnt the limits of the collar, and figured out how strong a field I could generate before it took notice and zapped me.

I should mention that Caprice acted as though she hadn’t noticed anything suspicious.

Not once did she ever mention anything about snapping bras and popping blouses.

– III –

We rode the mag-lev from Island Three to Island One.

The carriages were pressurized so that they could make the vacuum run between the immense asteroid islands.

It was midday by then and a Saturday, so we found ourselves on a crowded carriage.

I did do the gentlemanly thing and shielded Caprice from the crush of bodies within the carriage, though I was careful not to bump into her.

As I’ve said before, I really don’t know the bounds of our relationship, so crowding her just to feel her body against mine was off the table.

Were we friends or just fellow Familiars?

Did fellow Familiars invite each other out on New Year’s Eve?

Did they buy each other gifts for Christmas?

Did they hang out religiously every Thursday evening?

The more I thought about it, the more my chest grew tight, and a headache began to grow.

At a mag-lev station in Island One, Habitat One, I trailed Caprice from one platform to another and we caught the connecting line to the Harbor Sphere.

It wasn’t only starship docks that occupied the inside wall of the giant hollow sphere inside Island One. There were mini-habitats as well, a kilometer or so in length and breadth, that resembled alcoves cut into the Harbor Sphere rock wall. Where the mini-habitat joined the wall, large parks were built, and people could sit on the grass and look out at the immense open space before them.

If I haven’t mentioned this before, I’ll do so now.

The Harbor Sphere and Harbor Tunnel that connects it to the exterior of Island One was a pressurized environment. Hundreds of effect-fields emitters built along the length of the tunnel acted like air-locks that prevented the precious atmosphere from venting into the surrounding Hurakan Nebula.

These effect-fields also protected the parks that looked out into the Harbor Sphere.

So the lack of a glass shield or transparent wall offered a perfect view of the empty ball in the middle of Island One.

I say empty, but in truth it was a haven of activity with dozens upon dozens of superfreighters vying for space as they carefully traversed the void without bumping into each other. In that respect, even though the Harbor Sphere was round, it was crowded like the Panama Canal once was on distant Earth.

From the mag-lev station, Caprice and I walked to the park.

Sporadic crowds were beginning to build up here and there as we neared the park. When we arrived, I saw that it had been turned into part festival, part amusement park, with fenced off areas for the rides.

“Hah,” I muttered as I stopped and stared around me, spotting something large and round in the distance. “Hey, there’s a Ferris Wheel.”

“Yes, there is.”

I looked down at Caprice. “I’m not riding it.”

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“That’s a strange thing to ask. We are living in a space colony.”

Caprice arched an eyebrow at me. “A wise man once said, ‘an island is only an island if you look at it from the water’.”

I stared at her nonplussed. “Is that so. What’s that have to do with living in a space colony?”

Caprice shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought I’d mention it.” She pointed at the festival stalls. “I want candied apples.”

“You do? Wait, you want me to buy it for you?”

“You lost the match. The loser does the winner’s bidding for the day.”

I growled at her, and she batted her eyes innocently at me. “Fine,” I grumbled.

I would have bought it for her anyway, especially if I one day I could see her in a revealing bikini.

Dear gods, grant her the big boobs she deserve.

Realizing I was starting to drool, I turned my face away and wiped my mouth.

Then I slapped my cheeks a few times to snap out of my fantasy, and ignored the flat look Caprice gave me.

“Now, let’s get you those melons--I mean apples….”

I headed to the festival area looking for a food stall that sold candied apples. After finding one and completing my first mission for the day, I walked with Caprice through the festival area, visiting the stalls, playing the games, and gradually made our way over to the amusement park area with its mechanical rides.

By then it was early afternoon and I was starting to think about lunch, when Caprice suddenly yanked me by the hand, and pulled us off in an unexpected direction.

“Hey—what are you—?”

“This way,” she replied in monotone, though she looked tense.

But no sooner had she pulled me away when she abruptly skidded to a stop, and I almost knocked her over.

“What are you—?”

The words died in my throat as I stared at an unexpected vision of beauty.

“Caelum?”

In front of us, a girl with an impressive, mouthwatering rack, beautiful chestnut hair, and large brown eyes had come to a stop not far away. She was dressed casually, with a short sleeve white blouse and pleated denim skirt, and she wore wedged sandals on her feet that revealed her painted toes.

I swallowed hard as I met her eyes. “Haruka…?”

Haruka Amiella looked at me and then at Caprice holding my hand. Her lips twitched for a while before breaking into an uneasy smile. “H—Hello.”

Caprice nodded faintly and replied flatly, “Hello.”

Haruka’s lips twitched again, and then she noticed the collar around my neck, and her face paled.

Caprice exhaled loudly, and then began pulling me away.

But I stood my ground and resisted her efforts.

“Caelum?” she asked.

I glanced at her. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

“Why?”

Caprice suddenly looked nervous, and that surprised me.

But before I could say anything, two other girls, a blonde and brunette with short and shoulder length hair, arrived behind Haruka.

The blonde patted Haruka’s back. “Haru, what are you doing? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The brunette peered at Haruka and then followed her line of sight to Caprice and I. “Oh, it’s the Silent Doll, and”—she frowned at me—“her boyfriend?”

Haruka’s eyes widened immensely. “Boy—boyfriend?” She seemed to recover from her shock at realizing that I was a Familiar, and began looking at the two of us with a mixture of disbelief and disapproval. “You and Caelum?”

I started to reply but Caprice stepped closer to me and pressed her body into my right arm, stifling my protest. “Is that a problem?” she asked.

I was about to question her but she drew even tighter against me, pressing her left breast firmly into my arm.

Abruptly, a startling sensation travelled from my arm to my brain, jolting my awareness out of my body.

I felt like I was floating in a sea of clouds.

Caprice had indeed been telling the truth.

She wasn’t wearing a padded bra.

She wasn’t wearing a bra at all!

Happy New Year, Caelum Desanto!

I had trouble seeing my surroundings as my awareness was preoccupied by the incredible sensation of Caprice’s small breast digging into my arm.

I had to remember to swallow when I started to choke on my saliva.

After doing so, I blinked a number of times and struggled to focus on my surroundings.

Gradually my attention settled upon Haruka.

She had started to retort to Caprice, but then looked conflicted and her mouth opened and closed a number of times.

The blonde girl beside her started to laugh. “Ha ha. This is incredible. The Silent Doll has a boyfriend.”

The brunette nodded as she eyed me from head to toes. “Yeah, and who have thought she’d land herself quite the catch.” She narrowed her eyes. “Even if he is a Familiar he’s still quite something to look at.”

My ego began to tap dance happily.

Quite the catch? Me? Is she serious? Well of course. I mean, just look at me!

The blonde waved at me. “I’m Alistair. Alistair Kell Avenir.”

The brunette folded her arms under her modest breasts. “I’m Siobhan Saint-Clair Avenir.”

I cleared my throat, still conscious of Caprice’s breast against my right arm, and started to bow politely to them. “I’m Caelum Desanto—”

“And we’re leaving,” Caprice cut in.

“Why?” Alistair asked with a smirk on her lips.

I looked down at Caprice. “Yeah, why?” Then I suddenly realized the obviousness in this situation. “Wait a minute! You know these babes?” Caprice scowled at me, and I was so surprised that I jerked back. “I—I mean—you know these girls?”

“We’re classmates,” Siobhan said. “Silent Doll sits at the back of the classroom, but we still share the same room.”

I turned to the brunette. “Hey, she has a name and it’s not Silent Doll.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she remarked and deflected my warning with a casual wave.

I took a couple of steps toward the girl but the blonde, Alistair, stepped forward.

“Relax. She didn’t mean anything by that.”

“I want to hear that from her, not you,” I said to her in a low tone.

Haruka intervened. “Stop this. Alistair, Siobhan. You’re being rude.” She swallowed and took a deep breath. “Caelum, it’s been a while.”

I was glaring at Saint-Clair when I replied to Haruka. “Yeah, it has been. You’re boobs are bigger than they were six months ago.”

“Hah!” Haruka looked incensed. “We haven’t seen each other in six months and that’s what you say to me?”

“Well, what else am I supposed to say?” I broke eye contact with Saint-Clair and stared at Haruka. “They’re hard not to notice.”

Alistair started to laugh. “He’s just like you said he was.” Then she openly gaped. “Wait a minute! If you two are this close, why is she with him?”

That reminded me of what I’d realized moments ago, and I turned to Caprice. “You’re classmates with Haruka?”

Caprice’s unreadable façade was beginning to crack and reveal her worry.

I took a deep breath that I released unhappily. “Come with me.”

Pulling her ten or so meters away from Haruka and her friends, I stopped and stared hard into Caprice’s emerald green eyes.

Not for the first time, I noticed how much they looked like Arisa’s eyes.

And not for the first time, did I notice the growing number of streaks of red in Caprice’s long, raven hair.

When I asked her if she dying her hair, Caprice had adamantly denied it.

Green eyes like Arisa. Red hair like Arisa’s. The only thing missing her prize winning bust.

However, her appearance wasn’t enough to distract me from what I wanted to ask.

It came close, but not close enough.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I questioned her, keeping my voice low, though it also sounded hard and a little angry.

Caprice swallowed hard. “I couldn’t tell you.”

“What? Why not?”

“Arisa told me not to tell you.”

I drew back a few inches. “Arisa did? Why?”

“Because”—Caprice looked openly worried even though it was faint—“there are things that you don’t know.”

“Such as?”

She pressed her lips together tightly and shook her head. “We should leave.”

“Caprice, what did Arisa say to you?”

“That it was best if you didn’t know.”

“Know what?”

“About Amiella’s condition.”

I frowned down at her. “What…condition…?”

“That her family had her memories of the incident on the rooftop removed.”

I stared at Caprice and lost my anger and my train of thought. Suddenly, I was feeling very, very cold. “What happened? What happened to her?”

Caprice looked up at me with regret. “The trauma was too much for her. She had a mental collapse. And so her parents opted to treat her by having her memory of the experience removed.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, yet I could sense that Caprice was telling me the truth.

And I could sense through the sensorium-field, that going against Arisa’s instructions was difficult for her, as her emotions were a conflicted mess.

Averting my gaze, I had some trouble clearing my throat. “What does that have to do with not telling me that you were classmates?”

Caprice flinched and lowered her gaze. “Nothing….”

“Was that really Arisa’s doing? Not telling me about you and Haruka attending the same school—was it really her doing?”

“Yes. She felt it was better if you didn’t think about her. She wanted you to focus on your training.”

I spun away from Caprice, and planted my hands on my hips as anger washed through me.

I didn’t want her to see me angry, so I kept my back to her.

“Caelum, I’m sorry.”

Shaking my head, I closed my eyes tightly.

“Caelum, I wanted to tell you. But I couldn’t. But part of me didn’t want to tell you either.”

In the corner of my eye, I could see Haruka looking at me from the near distance – looking at me with unease.

“Caelum, I agreed with Arisa. I thought it would be better this way.”

Again, I shook my head. “Did you think I would come running to see Haruka? Is that what you thought? That I would butt into her life?”

“If not, then why are you angry?”

I turned and faced her. “Because you kept the truth from me.”

“You never asked me.”

“I didn’t know that you were classmates. I asked Arisa, and she told me she didn’t know which school Haruka was attending.”

“Is that really why you’re angry? Or is it because you didn’t get a chance to say goodbye?”

My anger grew cold once again. “I did say goodbye to her. That day, on the rooftop courtyard, I made her cry when I broke my ties with her.”

“Then why are you angry?”

“I’m angry that you and Arisa didn’t trust me. And no—I would not have gone running to Haruka. I know where she and I stand. She’s an Aventis. I’m a Familiar. Whatever we had between us is over.” I threw Haruka a glance. “We’re not even friends anymore.”

Caprice looked uncomfortable. “You may not be friends…but does that mean you don’t feel anything for her?”

I looked at her sharply. “What? Why are you asking?”

“How do you feel about her?”

I opened and closed my mouth a number of times, then eventually said, “I care about her. She’s my childhood friend. She was there for me when my parents died. She was there for me when my sister died.”

“And she was there for you when you died, and came back to life.”

My feeling coalesced into a lump in my throat that made it difficult for me to swallow. “Yes, she was….”

Caprice’s lips quivered for a heartbeat. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not telling you. I’m sorry for keeping it a secret. I’m sorry for dragging you out here.” She closed her eyes and shook her head faintly as she bowed her head. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”

I started reaching for her, but then I withdrew my hand.

Caprice looked up at me. Her face had regained its composure, but her eyes glittered with regret.

“I had no idea she would be here.”

“…you didn’t…?”

“I won’t stand in your way.”

“…what…?”

“This was probably meant to be.”

“…it was…?”

“You should talk to her. But just be careful with what you say.”

I looked into her eyes, and then shook my head faintly as I began to understand what she meant. “Caprice, I’m not going to run back to her.”

“I know. But…you should talk to her.” Caprice retreated a couple of feet. “I won’t tell Arisa. That’s a promise.”

I exhaled loudly and stared at her lopsided. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going home.”

“No, you’re not.” I closed the distance to her. “Caprice, didn’t you hear me? I’m not going to run back to her.”

A hint of confusion crossed her face, then vanished.

Again, I released a heavy breath. “Didn’t you say that today the loser does what the winner says.”

“Yes, so you should be with her.”

“No, dummy. You called yourself my girlfriend.”

“Ah…about that—”

“Then for today, I’m your boyfriend.”

Caprice openly gaped at me. “Huh?”

With a sigh, I shook my head. “So today, I’m spending New Year’s Eve with my girlfriend.”

“Just for today.”

“Yes, just for today.” Then I shrugged lightly. “Though, if I lose to you next time….”

Caprice’s eyes widened faintly. “Oh…next time…yes….”

Silence fell between us and I found myself gazing into her eyes for a long while.

Yes, they were definitely like Arisa’s eyes.

Damn it—if only she had Arisa’s bust!

I shrugged a shoulder at her. “I don’t get it.”

“Get what?” she asked sounding the slightest bit distracted.

“With me attending Galatea Academy next year, I would have run into Haruka eventually.”

“Yes, but this way you weren’t distracted. You focused on your training.”

I couldn’t believe the extent to which I’d been manipulated.

With a sigh, I allowed my shoulders to slump. “I see….”

“Caelum—”

“Wait for me here.”

I turned and walked over to Haruka, who watched me anxiously in the company of her two Aventis friends.

Standing before her, I slipped my hands into my pockets. “Haruka, it’s good to see you. I mean that. I’m glad you’re doing well.”

Her lips parted a few times, and she glanced at Caprice standing some distance behind me. “Caelum, I didn’t know about you and her.”

“Yeah, neither did I.” I laughed softly, then noticed Haruka’s confusion. “Ah, well, you see we just started dating.” I laughed again and added, “But as you can see, her boobs are small so I don’t know if it’ll work out.”

“Caelum,” Haruka said sharply.

“Yes?”

“You’re an idiot.”

Then she turned away and walked off with angry strides.

“Haruka—I took the entrance exam.”

She stopped in mid-step, then looked at me over a shoulder. “What exam?”

I smiled cheerily at her. “I passed. I’m attending Galatea Academy next year.”

Alistair and Siobhan had been smirking at me, but their expressions fell and they gave Haruka anxious looks.

As for Haruka, she was looking worried. “You—you’re attending Galatea Academy? Why?”

“Because all Familiars with these”—I indicated my collar—“have to attend an Aventis school.”

Again, she paled and it took her a few seconds to recover.

I felt I had to say something quickly. “Haruka, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“Why not?” she asked cautiously.

I wagged my eyebrows at my childhood friend. “Cause I’m bad ass.”

Haruka stared at me for a long while, then grimaced. “Caelum, you’re still an idiot.”

“Yeah, whatever. But now I’ll be able to keep track of your progress.”

“What progress?”

I gave her a thumb’s up gesture. “I’m cheering for you Haruka.”

She stared at me blankly, then grew bright red. “You—you idiot!”

This time she stormed off.

I have to admit her reaction puzzled me. “Why is she so embarrassed?”

The two girls nearby exhaled and gave me pitying looks.

Alistair spoke up first. “There’s a boy she likes.”

Siobhan shook her head at me. “And you just said you were rooting for her.”

My eyebrows rose slowly but significantly toward my hairline. “Oh…she thought I was rooting for her love life.”

“Exactly,” Alistair replied.

“But I was rooting for her chest.”

“What?” both girls muttered.

“I was rooting for her to reach the next letter in the alphabet—wait! She has a boy she likes?”

“Yes, and she’s here to meet him.” Alistair smirked at me again. “We came along to support her.”

Siobhan wagged a finger at me. “So don’t even think about interfering.”

I remembered to close my mouth.

The girls laughed and then chased after Haruka before I could find a suitable retort.

“Haruka likes someone?” I whirled and walked back to Caprice. “She has a boyfriend?”

Caprice’s eyes widened briefly before she shook her head faintly. “No. She doesn’t. At least not yet.”

“Heh?”

“They’re still dancing around each other.”

“Oh, I see.” I frowned at her. “So what’s he like?”

“He seems like a well respected young man. Very upstanding. Comes from a rich family.”

I arched an eyebrow at her. “You seem to know a bit about him.”

“I listen to the girls talk in my classroom. And in the bathrooms. And then there’s the gossip forums. So I keep up to date.”

“All essential doings for a healthy high school life,” I remarked.

“Exactly.”

“So now what?” I asked.

Caprice’s lips parted and I realized that she had no idea what to do next.

I held back a sigh and pointed at the rides. “It’s afternoon. The queues are pretty long. Do you want to get something to eat instead.”

Caprice looked relieved with me taking the lead, though the untrained eye wouldn’t have noticed.

I guess I’d spent so much time around her, that I was starting to recognize all her subtle facial expressions.

“I have tell you something,” I said.

“What would that be?”

“I have no idea how I’m supposed to act as your boyfriend.”

“And I have no idea how to act as your girlfriend.”

I glanced at my watch. “Well, I guess we have about nine hours of practice then.”

“Yes. I suggest we observe how the other couples behave.” In the corner of my eye I noticed her frown at me. “Caelum.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m over here.”

I turned away after studying a couple of busty blonde girls in revealing garb walking nearby, and looked down at Caprice. “So you are.”

Caprice stared at me flatly, then stepped closer. “Caelum.”

I had the sudden impression she was up to something. “Yes?”

Without warning she slammed the heel of her shoe into my foot.

I yelled out and dropped to one knee. “What was that for?”

“I'm practicing to be a jealous girlfriend.”

She walked off with an inappropriately placid expression, leaving me to massage my wounded toes.

“Fine. I guess I had that coming.”

My gaze fell on her tight derriere, and I had to wipe the drool from my lips, but then I suddenly grew extremely anxious.

Today wasn’t going to be like those other occasions when we just hung out.

If I messed up here, how would that affect our relationship as fellow Familiars later on?

“I guess I’d better not screw up—”

Because I’d fallen behind, I noticed a group of young teenage guys eyeing Caprice with salacious interest.

My feelings of anxiety and dread were swept aside in a heartbeat.

Rising to my feet, I chased after Caprice and surprised her by taking her hand.

“Caelum?”

“It’s nothing,” I replied, and steered her away toward one of the rides. “How about we try that one first.”

“What about something to eat?”

“We can do that later,” I said. “Let’s have some fun.”

In the corner of my eye, I noticed the dark looks on the group’s faces, and prepared myself for trouble.

– III –

“So then what happened?” the Enforcer officer sitting behind the desk asked.

“I beat them up,” I replied matter-of-factly.

“You beat them up?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All five of them?”

“Yes, sir.”

He gave me a dubious look, and swept his gaze over me, stopping briefly at the collar of my neck.

“You beat them up on your own?”

I nodded faintly. “Yes, sir.”

“Why?”

“Because they were harassing my girlfriend.”

“And so you beat them up?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All on your own?”

I hesitated. “Eh…well…my girlfriend did knee one of them in the groin.”

The Enforcer slowly and wearily rubbed his forehead. “I see.”

This was the third time I’d recounted my fight with a group of Regulars.

For the record, this was a different group of Regulars who’d chosen to lay claim on Caprice. The first group had given up when Caprice and I lost them in the crowds.

For six hours, I’d been forced to wait to be interviewed at the Enforcer Station. Then when it was finally my turn, I was questioned for a half hour.

“Sir, can I go now?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether they press charges against you and your girlfriend.”

“What?” I stood up off the chair in front of his desk. “But that’s not fair. They were harassing her. What was I supposed to do?”

“Call the authorities.”

“Are you kidding me? Was I supposed to stand and do nothing while they made off with my girl?”

“It’s the legal thing to do.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Officer, do you have a girl?”

“Ah, I do.”

“And if some group threatened to steal her away from you, would you let them? Would you let them take the love of your life.” I stepped closer. “Are you going to tell me that when you were my age you never stepped up to the plate to protect your girl?”

The man was silent for a long while, then looked across the open office area at another desk where Caprice was being questioned by a female officer.

“Is that your girl?”

“Yes, sir.”

“She’s a pretty girl.”

“Yes, sir. She’s the most beautiful girl in the colony.”

Yes, I was exaggerating a little but only a little.

He sighed. “To be young and stupid again.”

“Sir?”

“Hold out your hands.”

I blinked in surprise, then held my hands out for him.

He unlocked the handcuffs.

“You’re letting me go?” I asked as I rubbed my wrists after wearing handcuffs for six hours.

“Not exactly. You’ll be issued with an infraction notice for being a public nuisance—amongst other things—and fined. This will go on your juvenile record. And your Guardian has already been contacted. She’ll be fined as well for your misbehavior.”

My lips drew back in terror.

I am so dead! Arisa is going to string me up by my—no! I don’t want to think about it!

The Enforcer officer retrieved the handcuffs. “You’re getting off easy. These days the public isn’t comfortable with Familiars running around with powerful Artifacts.”

“I didn’t use it,” I told him truthfully. “Against that bunch of Regulars, I didn’t need to.”

The man shook his head. “Kid, you need to exercise some restraint and better judgement. Now, there’s a waiting area outside. Take a seat while we process the paperwork. Don’t even think of running away before you’re discharged.”

I almost cringed. I’d spent the past six hours in the waiting area only to be sent back to it.

Swallowing unhappily, I asked, “Sir, what about the Regulars I beat up?”

He pursed his lips for a moment. “More than likely your Pride will protect you from any charges those boys choose to lay. You should be so grateful to them.”

I felt a little queasy upon hearing that I’d be relying on the Lanfear Pride to keep me out of trouble.

He pointed across the office area in the direction of the waiting ‘lounge’. “Go on. I’ve got others to deal with and it’s not even midnight.”

“What about my girlfriend?”

He threw a look across the office. “I imagine she’ll be released shortly.”

I nodded. “Thank you, officer.” Standing up, I offered him a respectful bow. “Happy New Year.”

In the waiting area, I sat on the uncomfortable plastic chair and stared up at the ceiling.

This was turning out to be a New Year’s Eve to remember, but there was only an hour remaining until midnight.

And it wasn’t turning out to be memorable just for me.

The waiting area was crowded with people waiting to be discharged or interviewed.

I sagged in the plastic chair, and stared emptily off into the distance until someone stopped in front of me.

“Caelum.”

I looked up to see, Caprice.

Her light makeup was still unblemished, but her eyes were puffy as though she’d been crying.

I shot up to my feet and grabbed her the shoulders. “Are you okay? I mean—what happened? What did they do to you?”

She touched a finger to her lips. “Relax.”

“You’ve been crying. How can I relax?”

The officer who’d interrogated me arrived beside us. “Here. Take this and you’re free to go.”

I took the envelope he handed me.

To think that in this day and age, paper was still in use.

“Your infraction notice has been mailed to you and your Guardian,” he said. “This is just a formality.”

With that he turned and walked away as though glad to be done with me.

Caprice took my right hand and pulled me toward the exit. “Let’s go.”

Outside the Enforcer Station, I followed Caprice down the steps to the sidewalk. Quietly, I folded the envelope and slipped it into a back pocket.

“Caprice, I’m sorry. I messed up your date.”

“Our date.”

“Okay, our date. I’m sorry.”

Caprice turned as she continued pulling me along. “I understand. Apology accepted.”

At an intersection we waited for the traffic light to change so that we could walk across the street.

“Caprice, are you mad?”

“No.”

“Will you tell me why you were crying?”

“Tears can be very effective.”

I realized what she meant, surprised that she could cry as the situation demanded. “Oh, and they didn’t see through them?”

“She told me I needed practice and gave me a few helpful tips.”

“Caprice, you’re terrible.”

“It was for your sake.”

I winced and shut my mouth.

We crossed the street, and headed in the direction of the park with a view of the Harbor Sphere. We walked in silence and fifteen minutes later, we joined ten thousand other people who had gathered to see the final fireworks display of the night. We’d missed the earlier show because we were captive at the Enforcer Station.

Unfortunately, the park was crowded so we couldn’t get close to the Harbor Sphere, but we still had a pretty good view of the giant void that was the domain of immense starships.

I looked up over the tops of people’s heads at the Harbor Sphere to see that it was bereft of traffic. Only the ships responsible for the fireworks display were out in formation. The superfreighters and liners had all docked in the alcoves cut into the spherical rock wall.

While we waited for midnight only minutes away, I glanced at Caprice.

She was busy removing her lipstick with a handkerchief.

A part of me was a little disappointed to see her do so, but I kept it hidden from her.

What an odd day this turned out to be. Even if it was a practice date, it had gone horribly wrong when I accepted the challenge from those Regulars. But I knew deep down that given a second chance, I would have still beaten them up, and that bothered me as it said something about me that I didn’t like.

I had changed since becoming a Familiar, and realized I wasn’t the best person that I could be.

“If it bothers you, don’t worry about it,” Caprice said above the noise of the chatter around us.

“What?”

“You had a reason to beat them up.”

“What reason?”

“Me.”

I closed my mouth and swallowed down some of my regret. “You’re not disappointed?”

“Of course I am. I’m disappointed in them, not in you.”

I shook my head slowly. “No, you should be disappointed in me.”

“Then how do you plan on making it up to me?”

I blinked sharply at the insistent, earnest look in her eyes. “How?”

She nodded. “Yes, how?”

I rubbed my hair nervously. “Ah—can I sleep on it.”

“You have until midnight.”

A glance at my watch told me I only had a minute left on the clock.

Caprice looked expectantly up at the Harbor Sphere, while I agonized over what to do or say.

Then the people in the park started counting down the new year, and I threw caution and restraint to the wind.

I reached across and took Caprice by the shoulders.

She was counting down as well and looked faintly startled.

“You’re still my girlfriend?”

She nodded.

With a finger under her chin, I raised her head.

Then I leaned down and apologized to her by giving away my first kiss.

I thought my heart would explode out of my chest when my lips met hers.

I don’t think I even heard the sounds of the crowd cheering or the fireworks.

My awareness was consumed by her and her lips…until she broke away and stepped back.

“Caprice…?”

She smiled faintly. “Practice is over.”

“Huh?” I felt as though I’d been punched in the chest so hard that my heart stopped.

Was I wrong about her?

“Happy New Year, Caelum.”

Was I wrong about us?

Caprice turned and slipped into the standing crowd.

“Wait!”

I yelled at her and tried to follow, moving between the throng of bodies in pursuit of her.

“Caprice—wait!”

I lost sight of her so I stretched out my Fragment’s sensorium-field, spreading it around me in search of her.

There was a limit to how far I could project the field before the collar noticed.

I didn’t care. I needed to find her, and so I ignored the sharp jolt from the collar as I spread the field to almost fifty feet in a conical shape.

Sweeping the conical field in a semi-circle, I failed to catch any sign of her or her sensorium-field.

“Damn it!”

Moving away from the crowded areas of the park, I pulled out my palm-slate from a pocket and dialed her number.

I got the standard message about the other party being unavailable but I growled in frustration when I learnt the voice mail was disabled.

I sent her a message instead.

It took me longer to type it out because my hands where shaking so badly.

PLEASE DON’T GO.

Then I resumed searching for her through the crowded park.

Eventually, I gave up and headed for the mag-lev station, realizing that was what I should have done when I first lost contact with her. But that would have proved fruitless with the massive crowd that eventually swamped the station looking to make their way home.

My palm-slate vibrated in back pocket and pulled it out in a hurry.

YESTERDAY WAS INTERESTING. I HAD FUN. I’LL SEE YOU TODAY FOR TRAINING. DON’T BE LATE. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I stared at the screen for a long while.

Slowly, the cold, hard truth dawned on me.

I had been rejected.

I laughed at myself.

I felt gutted, winded, and stupid.

What kind of idiot was I do something like that?

How could I have risked our friendship by stepping over the line?

Slipping the palm-slate back into a pocket, I leaned my back to the wall behind me, and kept out of the way of the crowds passing through the turnstiles and onto the mag-lev station’s platforms.

The sight of happy couples here and there made me feel emptier inside.

It also filled me with regret.

Would she even listen to an apology?

How would I react when I saw her again? Should I just pretend it had never happened?

And if she was planning on rejecting me—why the Hell was she wearing no bra!

Eventually, with my head swirling with questions for which I had no answers, I walked through the turnstiles, waited on the platform for a half hour, and boarded a mag-lev for the trip home to Island Three.

In a few hours, I was expected to attend training.

For the first time in months, I honestly contemplated skipping it, until the thought of Arisa coming down on me like an avalanche quickly made me reconsider.

– IV –
(Caprice)

I sent Arisa a message.

I HATE YOU FOR DOING THIS TO ME.

I HATE YOU FOR MAKING ME DO THIS.

Then I turned off my palm-slate.

I didn’t want to read her reply or replies.

No doubt she would confront me soon enough.

Staring out the window of the automated cab, I looked at the habitat buildings flashing by. Then the cab entered a tunnel connecting the small habitat to the larger Habitat One within the asteroid Island.

“…Happy New Year…Caelum….”

I was glad there was no driver to see my tears fall.

“…Happy New Year….”

– V –
(Arisa)

Seated at the dining table, I read the message that arrived on my palm-slate.

Around me the restaurant deck of the cruise ship was lit brightly by yet another round of fireworks exploding out in the Harbor Sphere.

The patrons were boisterous in their celebrations.

Everyone sounded happy at the prospect of a new year during which to rob and plunder and make more profit than last year.

I re-read the message and felt my heart sink.

Sensing someone approach me, I quickly cleared away the screen and slipped my palm-slate back into my purse.

My aunt, Yolonda Imreh Lanfear, the Primatriarch of the Lanfear Pride, regarded me with warm concern as she sat down at the table.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

I smiled at her and nodded, but her concern became a suspicious look and she dipped her head at me.

“Arisa?”

I swallowed tightly, and lost my grip on my smile. “I think I may have made…a terrible mistake.”

My aunt’s eyes widened slightly.

I swallowed again, and took a deep breath. “I told a girl not to fall in love.”

“And?”

“I believe she fell in love….”

My aunt sat back in her chair. After a short while, she broke into a thin enigmatic smile. “Well then. This shall prove to be most interesting.”

I cleared my throat once more. “And Caelum Desanto was fined for brawling in public.”

My aunt’s expression fell. “Wonderful.”

She reached over to her tall glass of champagne that was half full, and downed it in one swig.

Slamming the glass back down on the table, she glared into the distance.

“Bloody wonderful, indeed.”
 

---

Draft only.
Final piece will be more refined.
I mean the grammar. Not Caelum.

Reflections – VI.

The Fragment the Lanfear Pride allocated to me went by the name, Kaiser’s Blessing.

Upon summoning its first form, otherwise known as its basic or starting configuration, I knew that it was quite clearly a weapon.

How powerful of a weapon was something I wouldn’t learn for a long time to come, but even with the little I’d unlocked of its abilities, I knew that it held promise.

It’s fair to say, that shortly after entering Galatea Academy, I had a glimpse of its potential, but I have yet to acquire it.

When it was allocated to me, the Lanfear researchers already knew what kind of weapon it was. What they didn’t know was its final configuration – the so called Kaiser Form. This was because the Kaiser’s Blessing had remained locked for centuries since the end of the War of Supremacy, and after the war, a great deal of information on the Artifacts was deliberately destroyed. So while they knew it was a weapon, they didn’t know its final form. Complicating matters was that all attempts to fully unlock it had failed. This is something that I learnt later as I began to slowly unlock the Core.

So what does the Kaiser’s Blessing look like?

In its first unlocked configuration named Schneider, it consists of two armored gauntlets that cover my hands and forearms. Attached to these gauntlets are sword blades some four feet long. At the back of the blade is a narrow, angular shield that looks more like a fairing than a traditional shield. It’s certainly nowhere near as large.

So the Schneider Form comprises two gauntlets and two arm-blades.

That’s what I’d unlocked when I started at Galatea Academy. It may not seem like much, but trust me, those two blades can cut through permacrete and thick armor like a warm knife through butter. Later, I was to make good use of them when I unlocked the next piece of the Artifact.

Sometimes, I perceive the Kaiser’s Blessing akin to a magical weapon without being magical. It is an example of a super advanced science at work. That was one of the reasons the researchers believed Fragments and Artifacts were not of human origin. They were simply too advanced. Yet considering how well some of these Fragments appeared to suit the fighting styles of us humans – dare I say Familiars – then perhaps whoever made the Artifacts really did intend for them to be used by humans.

There was one other possibility to consider when contemplating the origins of the Artifacts and Fragments – the possibility that these devices came from a time and place far, far into the future.

I did mention these Artifacts only appeared after the Cataclysm.

Well, some researchers believed that the Cataclysm was a form of space-time quake. They theorized that an event took place in the future, which translated into the past. The result was the massive shockwave in trans-space that propagated at super-luminal speed and ended billions of lives. If that was indeed the case, then wouldn’t the Cataclysm have an indelible effect on our future? After all, if the Aventis were not supposed to inhabit our galaxy for a long time to come, then their appearance in the past would most certainly alter the future yet to take place.
I listened to the arguments and the theories.

Before becoming a Familiar, and before being allocated a Fragment, those arguments and theories were just talk. They were intangible speculation that had little impact on a tiny cog in the wheel of the great machinery of the cosmos such as myself.

But now I didn’t think so anymore.

Now I was a part of those theories and speculations, and little by little I have become a bigger cog in a bigger wheel. So when the researchers talked about the Fragments, Artifacts, Aventis and Prides, I listened and I learned from them.

There is one more thing I need to mention.

While the things the Kaiser’s Blessing can do amaze me most of the time, I do not take its abilities for granted.

That old saying ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ was potently fitting.

I had great power.

But back then what the Hell did I know about great responsibility?

I was a sixteen year old kid turning on seventeen, with an unhealthy passion for large breasts and women’s lingerie.

Give me a break already.
 

Apologies for the delay. I honestly wasn't sure whether to post this or not. In fact, I've agonized over it for a few days now. Since this is only a draft, I may very well rewrite it for the final release.

---

Chapter 1.

– # –

(Caelum)

Semester One. School Week One.

Monday morning.

The start of a new school year.

I walked through the open east gates of Galatea Academy in Habitat One, Island Three but I did not fear for I was surrounding by hundreds of Aventis girls – many of them gorgeous – such that I did know where to look.

Thus distracted, I crossed into the school grounds like a kid in a candy store.

Granted, there were hundreds of male Aventis students also entering the school for the first day of the semester, but my brain was carefully filtering them out, thus allowing me to focus on the girls.

“So this is Galatea Academy.”

“Why are you acting like you’re seeing the place for the first time?”

True. I’d attended the orientation weekend a week ago.

Caprice walked beside me. She carried her school carry-bag by the straps slung over the crook of her left shoulder, wearing her customary deadpan expression.

I carried my bag by the straps and slung over my back.

At Caprice’s remark, I looked down at her.

Caprice’s raven dark hair shone in the morning light from the habitat’s mimetic sky-field that simulated clouds and so forth.

I noticed there was more red mixed in with the raven black than there had been at the beginning of the year. Not a lot more, but enough for me to notice the red more easily than I used to.

I frowned inwardly in thought, and wondered if a little of Arisa was going into Caprice every time she drank Arisa’s blood.

I’d drunk my fair share of that buxom vixen’s blood, though not as much Caprice, but my eyes were still dark and my hair was still black, and thankfully I wasn’t growing her breasts.

At that thought I shivered uncomfortably.

Caprice noticed and gave me flat look, so I quickly regained my composure.

In any case, Caprice’s hair was looking a little more differently these days, but I was more interested in the ongoing developments in other areas of her body. By my best guestimates, Caprice was sporting more than an A-cup. In fact, I was convinced she was encroaching on the domain of a B-cup.

True, I’d been rejected on New Year’s Eve, but that wasn't going to keep me away from her.

No sir! Not when I had the prospect of being enraptured by the sight of her nubile young body in a bikini.

I discreetly wiped my lips dry, and then blushed when I remembered the softness of her lips.

Thinking of cup sizes, bikinis, and soft lips, I looked at the girls around me.

“Aventis girls sure are pretty,” I observed after surveying the girls for a short while.

I heard a long, heavy sigh erupt from Caprice. “Not all Aventis girls are pretty. Besides, you don’t like the Aventis.”

“I don’t mind them as much as I used to.”

“Oh, how magnanimous of you.”

“Hey, I’m not saying I forgive and forget. I’m just saying that I don’t mind them as much as I used to.”

“Because you find the Aventis girls pretty.”

“Yeah.”

Caprice’s eyebrows twitched, catching me by surprise.

If those slender, perfect eyebrows were twitching then it meant she was mad.

As I’ve said before, the untrained eye would fail to appreciate the extent of the range of her emotions. Having known her for almost eight months, I was indeed familiar with her subtle ways of expressing anything from happiness to a black rage with the merest curling of her lips to the narrowing of her eyes by a micrometer.

Right now, I figured she was pissed.

“Caelum,” she said in mechanical voice.

“Y—yes?”

“You’re beyond redemption.”

I relaxed a little. She wasn’t going to verbally lash me, but I would have to tread carefully for a while.

After a moment, I said, “I’m not the Regular I once was. I can see things differently now.”

That was indeed true. I guess becoming a Familiar and obtaining the Kaiser’s Blessing had opened my heart and mind to other possibilities – such as the thousands of pretty girls attending the Academy – so I had decided to shelve my resentment for the Aventis.

However, I only reserved that decision for the girls.

The guys were definitely worthy of a beating if they crossed paths with me.

Caprice glanced at me then shook her head ever so faintly.

As I walked by it, I waved at the statue of Galatea from ancient Greek mythology.

“Do you think she was really so beautiful that he fell in love with her?” I asked.

“Who? Oh, you mean Pygmalion.” She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Well he certainly gave her quite the rack.”

“Dear gods, is that the only thing you can say about it?”

“Well take a look for yourself. See how big he made her? That man knew what was important.”

“I swear I’m going to hit you,” she warned me with a flat tone.

I snorted softly and shut my mouth.

By entering the school from the east gate, we had to walk past the middle school buildings, then the admin building, before getting to the high school region of the academy.

From a bird’s eye view, the buildings spelled out the word HIH.

The ‘I’ in the middle represented the admin building.

To the left – or the east – was the H shaped building where middle school students had their classes.

To the right – or west – was the H shaped building where high school students had their classes.

Simple. Right?

The H-shaped buildings were further categorized by the west wing and the east wing, each of them five stories high.

The bridge between the two wings was intersected by a giant donut of a building. This donut was the cafeteria and it was truly enormous, with nine floors to cater for the five or six thousand students in either high school or middle school.

So if we take the two cafeterias into account, a bird’s eye view of the school buildings would read: H-O-H I H-O-H.

Simple…right?

Leaving the middle school grounds behind, I noticed the quality and maturity of the girls walking around us jump up a notch.

Then I noticed one girl, a brunette with short hair walking to my ten o’clock.

She wasn’t an Aventis, but a Familiar, and wore the black collar that marked her as a Special.

She was quite attractive, with large brown eyes that I glimpsed when she looked off to her right at the giant cafeteria we were walking past.

As pretty as she was, what attracted my attention was the way she walked.

She had the same fluid grace that Caprice had, only more refined.

I had the clear impression that she’d been training for longer than Caprice and I combined.

But she also gave me the impression of a knife just waiting to be unsheathed.

“Caprice, who is that?”

“Trouble. Stay away from her.”

“What?” I looked down at Caprice. “So you know her?”

“No. I know of her.”

I leaned toward Caprice. “And? What do you know?”

“That’s the eldest daughter of the Sora Pride’s Primatriarch.” Caprice looked up at me. “Her name is Maya Khayman afil Sora.”

The daughter of a Primatriarch? The daughter of one of the women that led the Prides here on Pharos?

I could hardly believe it, and spun my head around to look at this girl under a new light.

As luck or misfortune would have it – take your pick – she was looking at me as well and our eyes met.

I gulped and then smiled at her, offering her a polite bow as I continued to walk beside Caprice.

The girl, Maya, regarded me with cold indifference, but then her gaze fell on Caprice and I saw her eyes narrow.

Peeking at Caprice, I saw that she too was looking at Maya.

Although Caprice wore a disinterested, apathetic expression – one that surfaced from time to time – I could see her eyes shone with a hard light.

Neither girl was breaking eye contact, and I wondered if I should risk getting burned by stepping between them.

But out of nowhere, a short girl with chestnut hair tied into twin-tails jumped on Maya’s back with a gleeful squeal, almost knocking her to the ground.

“Mayaaaaa!”

Khayman stiffened. “Wh—what the Hell are you doing?”

Still clinging to Khayman’s back, the girl with twin-tails giggled. “Did you see the room assignments? We’re in the same class! Isn’t that awesome?”

Awesome indeed, I thought as I stared unabashedly at Twin-Tails’ awesome bosom.

“No! It’s not awesome. It’s a disaster!”

“Maya, I know you’re happy for us,” Twin-Tails laughed warmly as she hugged Khayman’s back. “Be honest.”

“Honestly—get off me!” Khayman yelled and then succeeded in tossing the other girl off her back.

The short brunette laughed as she landed lightly on her feet, her twin-tails slashing through the air like a pair of scythes…and her enormous bosom bouncing not once, not twice, but three times before it settled down.

“Gah!” I chocked and stumbled. Catching my footing, I hurriedly turned to Caprice and whispered hastily, “Did you see that?”

Caprice’s eyebrows twitched again a heartbeat before she dropped her apathetic mask and scowled at me. “Would you behave!” she hissed at me.

I whispered back, “But they bounced three times! Three time! I’ve never seen a pair do that before!”

“Never seen what do that before?”

“Never seen breasts bounce three times—huh?” I spun to my left and met the glaring eyes of Maya Khayman afil Sora. “Oh…hello there…?”

The girl was standing with her arms crossed under her modest but well proportioned bosom, tapping one shoe angrily on the ground.

Behind her, the girl with twin-tails and bouncing chest looked on in a panic. “Maya—calm down! This happens all the time. No need to be angry. Happy thoughts, Maya. Think happy thoughts.”

Khayman’s eyes burned hotly as she ignored her companion. “You—what’s your name?”

I swallowed nervously and pointed at myself. “Who? Me?”

“Do you see me talking to anyone else.”

I swallowed again and bowed politely to her. “Caelum Desanto…afil Lanfear.”

When I peeked up at her…after briefly glancing at her chest…I noticed that her eyes had widened slightly.

“You’re Lanfear Pride?”

“No. I’m just acquainted with them,” I replied.

“Do you have a problem with the Lanfears?” Caprice asked sharply, stepping around me to face Khayman.

As the two girls glared hard at each other – yes, Caprice was indeed glaring – behind Khayman the girl with twin-tails bobbed around as she frantically waved her hands.

“Maya. Chill. Chill. No need to be so angry. Boys will be boys. You can’t blame them.”

The more she bobbed, the more her breasts bounced like balloons.

I would have enjoyed basking in the glorious sight of her heaving bosom, but the cold chill radiating from Caprice and Khayman was robbing my body of its heat. Any colder and I feared my teeth would start to chatter.

After staring hard at each other for a while, Khayman remarked, “Silent Doll. How disappointing that we’re not in the same class.”

“Khayman the Terrible, you should be counting your blessings.”

Khayman lowered her arms and clenched her hands into fists. “I’m going to settle things with you this year.”

“Shall I remind of the score so far?” Caprice asked in a steely yet flat voice. “My eleven victories to your seven.”

“I’m ready to start turning things around,” Khayman answered. “Same time. Same place?”

“Fine by me. It’ll be your funeral—again.”

The twin-tailed girl bounced on her feet and squealed. “No! Please don’t fight! Not again!”

I regarded both Caprice and Khayman with growing confusion. “Wait? You two know each other?”

Caprice smiled thinly, and my heart jumped in fear. “Unfortunately we do.”

“But you never mentioned her?” I complained. “Why not?”

“She’s one of the more unpleasant elements of my high school life. I try to forget she exists twenty-four seven.”

“Well, thanks for sharing,” I muttered.

Caprice exhaled loudly. “She’s a bug that I keep squashing but she keeps popping back up.”

Khayman narrowed her eyes. “So says the worm that I keep slicing and dicing for fish bait.”

“You’re running out of insults,” Caprice said. “Come up with new material.”

“I prefer to let my blades do the talking.”

“All they’ve done so far is cry for help.”

“They’re done crying.”

Caprice pressed her lips tightly for a moment. “Then I don’t mind crossing blades with you.” She cocked her head and smiled invitingly at Khayman. “In fact, I’ll cross blades with you here and now if I have to.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing?

Was Caprice challenging this girl to a fight?

Had her switches truly been flipped?

Was this the Caprice that I’d known for the past seven months?

A conflict of emotions broke out across Khayman’s face as she stared at Caprice. “Fine with me.”

Twin-Tails squealed in a panic, and I held my hands up in a hurry and slotted myself between the two girls.

Facing Khayman, I hastily said, “Wait! Wait! Wait! If you summon your Fragments your collars will go off. Do you want to get shocked?”

Khayman snarled at me, but then quickly calmed down. “Agreed. I’ll settle things with her later. But for now”—her knee came up and connected with my groin—“I’ll settle things with you.”

Pain washed through my body.

I collapsed to the ground, thinking my jewels had been cracked.

While I was cavorting in agony on the paved path, I heard the shouts of students running away, and the zing-zing sound of piercer-fields slashing the air.

Someone approached me and through the blinding agony, I looked up to see Twin-Tails reach down and then drag me along the ground.

“It’s not safe here! It’s not safe here!” she kept repeating as she pulled me away from the sounds of nearby fighting.

My uniform was going to be ruined, so I struggled up to my knees and crawled away in deep pain.

Dear gods! Does Khayman have steel capped knees?

After fleeing a few meters, I dropped exhausted to the ground and Twin-Tails kneeled before me with a look of deep worry on her face.

“Mister, are you alright?”

She wasn’t being careful so I could see between her thighs at the treasure under her skirt.

“Summer…Rose…,” I gasped.

“What was that?” she asked as she cocked her head.

I swallowed, the pain blasting out of my groin easing a little. “Summer Rose for Girls. Last year’s summer range.”

The girl frowned then realized what I was talking about. After a moment, she smiled sadly down at me. “You’re a pervert.”

I shook my head as I lay on the ground. “Not a pervert. A connoisseur.”

She shook her head as well. “No. You’re a pervert.”

She leaned forward and patted my head. I could feel the heat radiating from her bosom as she drew close to me.

Ah, what a glorious warmth.

I wanted to bury my head in between those pillows.

The girl sat down cross-legged on the ground beside me. “Ah, I knew this was going to happen. They just can’t get along.”

Though I was still in pain, I managed to sit up and observe an incredible scene.

With both their forearms wrapped in shimmering air that looked like they were wielding translucent swords, Caprice and Khayman were furiously slashing, striking, and parrying at each other.

A crowd of students had formed a wide circle around the girls, Twin-Tails, and me sitting on the ground.

However, I doubted Caprice and Khayman even noticed the spectators.

Both girls were too busy locked in battle.

I knew Caprice was fast, but even so I was surprised by the speed she was demonstrating.

As for Khayman, she moved with an incredible economy of motion, but looked to be struggling with the pace Caprice was maintaining. In other words, Khayman had technique, but Caprice possessed speed and power.

The battle was truly a spectacle to behold, but as enthralling as it was my attention was captured by the vista beneath their high flouncing skirts.

With my mind overclocked to better appreciate the view, I noticed that Caprice was wearing black panties while Khayman was adorning her derriere with crimson lace.

Sitting beside me, Twin-Tails gasped in surprise. “Oooh—Maya-chi's wearing her fiery red.”

“And Caprice is wearing her daring black.”

We both looked at each other, then quickly pulled out our palm-slates.

Dropping onto our bellies to capture the best low angles, I momentarily forgot about the pain in my groin as Twin-Tails and I busied ourselves snapping away with our cameras.

Cushioned on her breasts, the girl was surprisingly vocal.

“Looking good, Maya. Keep it up! Show me some leg. More leg. Yes, that’s it! Another one please. Oooh—what a lovely view!”

While I wasn’t being vocal like Twin-Tails, I did manage to keep pace with her, snap for snap. However, I soon started hearing more and more click-clicks and realized that every guy with a palm-slate – and some of the girls too – were busy taking photos of Caprice and Khayman in action.

“Ah, damn it,” Twin-Tails muttered glumly. “My memories have just been sold.”

Distracted, I gave her a puzzled look. “What?”

She leaned toward me. “How many did you take?”

“Um…fifty-eight.”

“I have sixty. Wanna trade later?”

“Huh? Oh, sure.”

“Then let’s trade details.”

Cushioned on her breasts, Twin-Tails leaned over some more and tapped her palm-slate to mine. After a moment both devices shared details and Twin-Tails was added to my contacts list.

“There we go,” she declared.

The girl pushed herself up off her belly – and breasts – and sat cross-legged on the ground.

After a moment, I sat up as well, relieved that the pain in my groin had subsided to an ache in my lower belly and little else.

Twin-Tails pocketed her palm-slate then looked over at me. “By the way, I’m Rina. Rina Sayen afil Sora.”

I noticed the black collar around her neck, then held out a hand to her. “I’m Caelum. Caelum Desanto afil Lanfear.”

She shook my hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“And it’s very nice to meet you too.”

She giggled and pointed at her face. “I’m up here.”

“Indeed you are.”

With a smile, she reached over and patted my head. “You silly pervert.”

I looked up into her expressive brown eyes. “Could I ask you something?”

She rocked coquettishly. “I’m single.”

“Oh…no, that wasn’t what I was going to ask.”

“Really?”

I pointed at the ongoing duel. “Does this happen often?”

“Yeah. It’s fire and brimstone whenever they step on each other’s tail.”

“So this is not a rare occurrence?”

“Oh no. Definitely not.”

I frowned as I realized the monumental secret Caprice had been keeping from me. “Have they ever been suspended? What about detention?”

Caprice was never late for training, but surely this behavior didn’t go unpunished.

Rina Sayen shrugged. “Not that I know of. Maya-chi’s mother keeps her out of jail whenever she’s in a fight. And Silent Doll has powerful family connections as well. So they both have get out of jail cards.”

Caprice had powerful connections? Did she mean Arisa who was the niece of the Primatriarch of the Lanfear Pride? Either way, I was having trouble assimilating these new revelations. To think that I knew nothing of what her school life really was like. I mean, I knew that she was friendless and the Aventis girls in her class enjoyed taunting her. But I never suspected she had such a violent running dispute with another Familiar.

To think that she was keeping all this a secret from me.

Or was it because I wasn’t making the effort to understand her, or to know her?

I decided it was time to have a talk with her, but I would need to be gentle.

After clearing my throat, I asked, “Is it true that Khayman’s mother is the Sora Pride’s Primatriarch?”

Sayen nodded. “Yep. It’s true. She’s the daughter of Sora Pride’s leading lady.”

“No kidding? Hands down that’s the truth? Like you’re being completely honest with me?”

“Yep. Totally honest. And she’s the only Familiar in the family. Her younger sister Katalina attends middle school here. She’s a senior.” The girl sighed and her bosom heaved dramatically such that I almost lost my train of thought. “Those two had a run in this morning. I guess it set Maya-chi in a bad mood.”

“Those two?”

“Maya-chi and her sister.”

“Oh….”

“Katalina is an Aventis. She’s a Pureblood. But Maya-chi wasn’t born a Pureblood. She Awakened as a Familiar about a year and a half ago. They used be close sisters but after Maya-chi’s awakening Katalina hates her. Doesn’t see her as a sister. Claims that Maya-chi isn’t blood related to her.”

“How come?”

“Well because Maya-chi is the first member of the Khayman Family to ever Awaken as a Familiar. So there was a rumor that her mother had an affair with a Familiar and Maya-chi is the result of that dalliance.”

“A dalliance?”

“Yep. So Katalina kicked up a storm—I mean she went Cataclysmic—so Maya-chi was kicked out of the house. Maya-chi is living in the girl’s dormitories.”

“She was kicked out? By her own family?”

“Yep. Maya-chi’s mum did it to restore peace to the Family. At least, that’s what my mum tells me. But I think she did it to protect herself and her position.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s an Aventis and Maya-chi is a Familiar.”

“So she kicked the runt out of the litter. Is that what you mean?”

“That’s one way of putting it. Anyway, Maya-chi has been living in the Academy dormitories for the past year. I asked my mum to enroll me in the dorms too. That way we could be together and I could keep an eye on her. Mum agreed.”

Sayen abruptly looked sad, and I felt the urge to keep the conversation going. “Are you childhood friends?”

“Yep. But she’s also my cousin.” Sayen shrugged. “So we’re family.”

“Your cousin? That means her mother is—”

“My aunt.” Sayen grinned but I didn’t sense it was happy.

For the moment, I was lost for words so I turned away to look at the ongoing duel and noticed the crowd was cheering Maya and Caprice on.

Supporters on both sides were considerably loud, and their cameras continued snapping away.

“What the Hell?” I muttered under my breath.

Sayen cupped her hands and yelled, “More leg Maya. Remember to kick higher.” She lowered her hands then remarked, “I think lemon yellow suits her better.”

“But I think the crimson looks good on her, too.”

Sayen giggled again and threw me a sidelong glance. “Oh? Has Maya-chi caught your eye?”

I pursed my lips pensively for a moment. “She does have nice legs.”

“Oh? Is that all?”

I frowned then regarded the buxom girl sitting beside me. “Rina Sayen?”

“Yes?”

“I like you. Will you go out with me?”

She tilted her head and then smiled. “Okay.”

Disbelief shoved all other thoughts out my skull. “Huh? You will?”

She leaned closer to me, and I noticed the sweet scent of her perfume. I suspected it was Kristina Dior, but I wasn’t certain. Also, I was having trouble concentrating because Sayen had drawn extremely close to me.

Damn, this girl is cute!

Sayen changed her smile and it became wicked. “I’ll go out with you if you obtain Maya-chi’s consent.”

My eyes widened. “But she hates me….”

“Exactly.” Sayen drew in a little closer. “But are you giving up without trying?”

I ran my gaze over her before meeting her eyes. “Hell no. I’ll make mountains move if I have to.”

Sayen blinked and then drew back a few inches.

I do believe she was faintly surprised, and I do believe she was blushing just a little.

“Okay then,” she said and giggled girlishly, making her bosom bounce hypnotically.

Move mountains? Hell, I was going to kick planets out of their orbits.

Sayen tapped her lips. “But don’t you already have a girl who likes you?”

She threw the two dueling girls a pointed look.

My breath caught in my lungs for a heartbeat or two, then I smiled weakly at her with a suddenly heavy heart. “No, it’s nothing like that.”

“Really?”

I sighed loudly. “I confessed but she rejected me.”

This time Sayen looked unmistakably surprised. “Why? Did you grab her boobs without permission?”

“No! Not at all. I kissed her but she ran away.”

Sayen blinked quickly for a long while. “Oh wow. You scared her off.” Abruptly she frowned. “Did you use too much tongue?”

“Huh?” I frowned. “No, I don’t think so.”

“It wasn’t a French Kiss?” Sayen gave me a look of pity. “Wow. How disappointing. No wonder she ran away.”

“Hey—it was my first kiss! It’s not like I’d practiced beforehand.”

Sayen waved a hand at the fighting girls. “So then why are you together with her?”

“Together…is that how it looked?”

“Oh definitely. I thought you two were a couple when I first noticed you.”

My eyebrows rose sharply and my voice broke. “Huh….”

Sayen looked puzzled at my reaction.

I glanced at Caprice just as she executed a spinning kick that kept Maya back while also flashing her black panties at the crowd. “No…no, we’re not dating. We’re not a couple. We’re…just friends.”

“Just friends?”

I was growing empty inside. “Yeah, just friends….”

“Hmm. If you says so.” Sayen sat back on outstretched arms. “That must be hard.”

“Yeah, it is….” Sitting on the ground, I stretched my legs out in front of me.

“So you’ve given up on her?”

I stiffened then gave her question serious thought.

Had I given up on Caprice?

“Well?” Sayen asked.

I couldn’t give her a straight answer because my feelings toward Caprice grew jumbled. It wasn’t the first time this happened since my impromptu failed confession four weeks ago. I’d spent the past month somewhat in limbo with regards to my feelings for her, especially since Caprice acted as though that kiss never happened.

“You confessed to her once,” Sayen said. “Why not do it again?”

I looked at her. “And get rejected again?”

“So you have given up on her.”

I turned away. “I don’t want to give up on her….”

“Then don’t.”

“It’s not so simple,” I snapped, then quickly added, “Sorry.”

In the corner of my eye, I saw that Sayen was watching me keenly.

An angry cry cut the air, then Khayman shouted, “You ripped my skirt!”

“Payback for my blouse!”

Then the two resumed their battle, and Sayen continued studying me intently.

Growing uncomfortable under her scrutiny, I glanced at Sayen. Hoping to distract her, I asked, “So, why do they hate each other?”

The girl blinked slowly and a faint smile curved her lips. “Because of a boy.”

“Huh?” Shock ran through me and I stared at her wide eyed. “Because of a guy?”

Sayen nodded. “Maya-chi said something about a boy Silent Doll likes.”

“A boy she likes?” The painful emptiness again consumed my chest as I stared gutted at Sayen. “Are you talking present tense? As in a guy she likes right now?”

Sayen nodded and her smile grew a little stronger. “Yeah, she had a photo of this good looking boy on her slate. Maya-chi saw it and said something—I can’t remember what—and Silent Doll went ballistic.”

Caprice has a guy she likes? Who the Hell is this dude? Damn it! Another secret she kept from me!

I realized I was grating my teeth together and forced myself to stop. But I couldn’t keep down the emptiness that continued consuming me from within.

I asked Sayen, “Do you know who the guy in the photo is? Do you know who she likes?”

Sayen’s eyes widened and this time a huge smile split her face before she laughed. “Ah…well…all I know is that he’s a student at this academy.”

“He goes to Galatea Academy?”

Sayen nodded. “Yep. He definitely attends Galatea Academy.”

Those feelings yet to be consumed began to froth. “What did he look like? Can you point him out in a crowd?”

Sayen stopped laughing for a moment, then she burst into laughter again. “He’s really good looking. Yeah, he’s really easy on the eyes. I can definitely point him out for you.”

Her laughter was killing me. “Hey—you don’t have to be so cruel!”

Sayen wiped at her eyes. “Sorry. It’s just hard not to laugh.”

“You’re kicking me in the gut and you find it funny?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t sound sorry at all.

My heart wilted and my frothing feelings sank into the ever expanding emptiness within me. “I was wrong about you. I don’t like you at all.”

Sayen waved her hands between. “Sorry. It’s just too funny. But are you giving up on me?”

“Yeah, I’m giving up on you.”

She leaned toward me and her bosom wobbled. “You’re really giving up on me?”

My gaze was being reeled down to her chest. “Yeah—yeah, I’m giving up on you.”

Sayen assumed a glum expression and then leaned away. “You’re no fun.”

I yanked my gaze away from the girl’s melons, relieved to be free of their influence for the moment, and I glared emptily at Caprice.

So she had a guy she liked and he goes to Galatea Academy.

I shook my head slowly.

If there’s someone she likes then why did she invite me out on Near Year’s Eve? Why torture me like that? No, maybe this is why she rejected me. But she could have at least told me. Why didn’t she say anything?

Before I could feel impossibly any worse, a loud siren filled the air and I realized with a start that it was coming from the collars that Caprice and Khayman were wearing.

Both girls jumped apart and stared at each other in fright as they breathed heavily with beads of sweat running down their faces.

Yes, Caprice actually looked frightened.

Khayman yelled at her, “This is your fault!”

“Serves you right for kicking him!”

“I’ll get you for this!”

“Right back at you!”

Then the siren stopped and lightning flashed from their collars, its tendrils caressing their bodies for a few seconds.

When it died abruptly, smoke drifted up from their collars, and then both girls flopped bonelessly to the ground and lay still.

Rina Sayen sighed heavily, her bosom heaving gloriously on her chest. “Ah, Maya-chi. What am I going to tell your mother this time?”

---

Thank you to all the readers for making it this far.
I'm having some second thoughts about Caelum so I may end up rewriting this.
I guess it's like a crisis of faith in him.