SilverFx is a r3t4rd.
O RLY?
YA RLY!

Just joking. XD As if you guys didn’t already know.

Onward with the story!
—————————————————————————————-

¤ Questions

Silver sighed and flipped through the pages of the large book on her desk, vaguely scanning through the words on the page without reading them. She could not concentrate, having given up a few minutes ago when she realised that she had been reading the same line five times over, all without understanding what it said.

Why was she feeling so edgy? Silver wondered, fiddling with a fold of her green robes. She hadn’t felt like herself the past few days, even though there was no reason not to. Her joint Project with Brandon had been going on well, and was in fact progressing even faster than both Grendel and herself had originally expected.

Yet, the same could not be said about her relationship with Brandon. Unlike what he had promised, that incident with Veronica was not the last. In fact, Silver had seen the older Ad Lib around Brandon almost every time she sought Brandon out; Veronica’s baffling possessiveness of Brandon had become a stubborn obstacle that Silver had to periodically overcome just so that she could talk to the man.

Silver had confided her uneasiness about Veronica to Brandon many times before, but Brandon dismissed her suspicions so casually every time that it made the girl wonder if she was merely being over-paranoid. Silver was never left wondering for long either; Brandon always managed to distract her with gentle kisses and flattering words.

But something happened that made all her suspicions and doubts about Brandon impossible to ignore, and made her think more than twice about her relationship with the Ad Lib.

One day, Rei had came to Silver and relayed to her, in a voice that was full of astonishment, about how he had caught a glimpse of a draft of Veronica’s Project while on duty in the Archives and had saw that it contained information about Summoning Sacks identical to what Silver had included in her Project.

‘Are you sure you don’t need a new prescription for your glasses, Rei?’ Silver had asked as light-heartedly as she could manage, despite the uncomfortable feeling that clenched at her heart now.

At that, Rei had pushed at the bridge of his glasses reflexively. ‘I’m sure. You mentioned about that Veronica to me before, that’s why I paid special attention to her portfolio in the Archives. I know what I saw.’

‘You must be mistaken.’ Silver continued to insist.

‘It’s better to be safe than sorry. You know what the Masters think of plagiarism. If Veronica submits her Project first…’

‘I know.’ Silver bit her lip in uncertainty. ‘But I’m sure you were mistaken. Brandon wouldn’t have… couldn’t have-‘ She could not bring herself to finish that sentence with conviction.

‘I don’t know, Silver. I think you should be careful of the man.’ Rei had warned darkly. ‘I don’t trust him.’

That evening, Silver had gone to retrieve her Project portfolio from the Archives and to her horror, discovered her notes from one of the Sack observations missing. No one else other than Brandon had access to the portfolio, and she had shown it to no one else other than Grendel and Rei.

The implications of that train of thought made Silver shudder.

A soft knock on her door then made her start out of her reverie. She released a breath she did not know she had been holding, even as she stood up hurriedly to unlock the door. It must be Brandon, come to meet her in her room as he had promised, Silver reassured herself. Brandon didn’t always break his promises.

‘Hey, Silver my girl,’ Brandon greeted her softly as the door opened to admit him. He leant forward; Silver recognised that he was going to kiss her. For one fleeting moment, the thought to turn her face away crossed her mind, but that urge died away quickly and the young girl only stood there to allow her lips meet his numbly.

Brandon sensed something amiss right away, of course. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Did you let Veronica copy our Project?’ Silver blurted out, unable to hold back her anxiety any longer.

A look of perfect surprise was immediately on Brandon’s face. ‘What makes you say something like that?’ He raised a hand to brush Silver’s hair away from her face, listening with utmost patience as she relayed what Rei had told her. With every word she spoke, Silver felt sillier and sillier, her gaze dropping down to the floor as she found it difficult to meet Brandon’s mildly bemused eyes. What had possessed her to tell Brandon about her childish suspicions?

‘I think Rei needs new glasses,’ Brandon laughed when she finished, his words strangely echoing Silver’s own dismissal of Rei’s words. ‘I may have showed Veronica our portfolio once or twice, but only because she asked me about our Project. I’m sure I didn’t see her remove any of your notes from the portfolio.’

‘But…’

‘Don’t worry, Silver my girl.’ Brandon saw her troubled expression and smiled down reassuring at her. ‘I’ll talk to Veronica about it, okay? I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding.’

Seeing the artless smile now on Brandon’s handsome face, Silver felt a reluctant smile tug at the corner of her own lips. At that, Brandon took it to be a sign that all was fine now, and started to plant soft kisses on her forehead, eyelids and lips.

Whether it was sheer oversight or her hurry to reassure herself, Silver did not seem to remember that she had not told Brandon about her missing notes from the portfolio. Closing her eyes to his gentle attentions, Silver sighed silently, trying her best to put away all her doubts.

Brandon could not have done what she thought he did. He would not want to sabotage his own Project, right?

¤ Shadows

Silver laid on her back on the bed, silver curls spilled across the pillow, an inexplicable lethargy filling her. She stared up blankly at the ceiling, one hand dangling motionless over the edge of her bed, simply watching the shadows lengthen and creep across the ceiling, claiming all but the part of the room lit by an oil lamp on her desk as the sun sank lower in the skies of Ellinia.

Brandon had promised her a surprise this evening, something that he claimed would help improve their joint Project. But what could do so? The Project was nearing completion, months ahead of her fellow Apprentices’; Silver felt sure that they had long exhausted any available resources and failed to see how anything new could help the Project.

Yet, Brandon made her agree to wait, and so here she was. Waiting.

At the knock on the door, Silver called out, ‘Come in.’ She had not bothered to lock the door this time. Sitting up slowly, she watched as her door swung open and a tall muscular frame filled the doorway, its face obscured by shadows. Her heart froze for a moment at the sight of the large Sparta sword slung across its broad shoulders, but she relaxed quickly as the figure’s face came into the light.

‘Hello.’ Brandon moved towards her, but Silver did not miss the quick movement of his other hand hiding something behind his back.

‘What is that behind you?’ She tried to peek at it, but Brandon angled his body swiftly to block her vision.

‘Not so soon, my girl. First, give me a reason to show it to you,’ he teased, swinging his sword off his shoulders to set it against the wall.

‘Aw, come on.’ Silver attempted to snatch at the mysterious object, but Brandon was too fast and she only managed to grasp a handful of a familiar cloth-like material before he moved it further out of her reach.

‘No tricks, Silver my girl. I only need one reason.’

Silver gave up, sulking as she threw herself backwards to lie on her bed again. ‘You told me to wait for you in my room to show me a surprise, and now you want me to give you a reason to do it? I don’t know what reason you want!’

Brandon knew he had gone too far then. Sighing, he set down the ‘surprise’ on the floor before joining Silver on the bed, stretching out on his side next to Silver. One arm going around her waist, Brandon hugged the girl and whispered into her ear, ‘Come on, I didn’t mean to make you angry.’

‘Give me one reason why I shouldn’t-‘ Her words were interrupted by the soft kiss Brandon planted at the side of her mouth, then a second deeper one full on her lips which she half-heartedly returned.

‘Are those enough?’ He asked in the breathless silence that followed.

‘No,’ Silver answered truthfully. But at Brandon’s crestfallen face, she forced herself to say, ‘But it will do.’

‘Come, I’ll show you the surprise.’ Brandon sat up and grasped Silver’s hands to pull her upright too. He bent to bring the mysterious object up from the floor and dropped it on the bed before Silver with a flourish.

No wonder it felt so familiar… Silver frowned as she pulled the Summoning Sack towards herself, feeling its coarse silk under her fingertips. She had handled enough of these Sacks to be able to recognise one by touch. But there was something strange about this Sack that Silver could not put a finger on. It laid uncommonly still, the runes that spelt the wards on its black material barely shimmering in the light as the creature within failed to bother to struggle against them, just like…

‘Isn’t this the Sack from the top shelf of Grendel’s cupboard?!’ Silver looked up at Brandon now, shocked.

‘Yep.’ Brandon grinned cockily.

‘Did he give you permission to take it?’

‘No. I got it from his office myself.’ His smile of smug triumph widened. ‘He made it so easy too. The old Master didn’t even lock his office properly…’

‘What!’ Silver was astounded by Brandon’s flippant admission to breaking and entering a Master’s office. ‘You stole this!’

‘Aw come on, don’t make it sound so bad.’ Brandon tried to touch Silver on the cheek, but Silver flinched away, frowning at him. ‘It’s not really stealing; I only skipped that one little step asking for clearance. Grendel would have let you use the Sack if you asked, right?’

‘No. He told me that I wasn’t strong enough to handle it until I trained a lot more!’ Silver took hold of Brandon’s hand and got to her feet urgently, grabbing the Sack as she stood. ‘Come with me straightaway to return this to Grendel and apologise to him!’

‘Nope.’ Brandon replied cheerfully and gave their linked hands a gentle tug, forcing Silver to sit back down on the bed. He quickly put his arms around the young girl, stilling her with a firm hug. ‘Think of it this way, Silver. We got the Sack to use it for our Project. How can Grendel find anything wrong in that? Once we are successful in this observation, he wouldn’t even be able to scold us or anything, right?’

Silver stared down at the Summoning Sack in her hands, feeling the ominous deadweight drag at her hands. The question was: could they be successful? Grendel had long drilled into her a sense of caution towards all Summoning Sack; it was difficult, even for an adept mage like Grendel, to measure the power of the monster through that thin layer of coarse black silk and underestimations were usually fatal.

That lesson had been reinforced more than once, when Grendel made mistakes guessing at the creatures within the Sacks during their observations. Once, a Sack that Grendel thought to hold nothing more than Wild Boars turned out to have contained their more dangerous ironclad cousins. Silver had barely managed to escape the stampede of Iron Boars and was only saved by Grendel’s quick Ice Strike spell that froze the mob in its maddened path.

‘I’m afraid to get hurt.’ Silver finally said, her voice full of quiet fear at the memory of that near fatal incident.

‘Silly.’ Brandon laughed and hugged her closer. ‘I’m about to get my third job advancement as a Crusader! Why wouldn’t I be able to protect you?’

Silver could not suppress the smile that came now. ‘Who trusts you to protect anyone?’

‘You, of course. Aren’t I your big strong warrior man?’ Brandon teased back, his fingers tickling her and making her giggle. ‘Trust me, alright? Go on, get your stuff and we can start.’

He took the Sack back from Silver, retrieved his Sparta and waited patiently at the open door for Silver to gather her War Bow, her backpack and the lamp from her desk. Stepping aside to let Silver pass first, he then shut the door behind her, closing off the warm light from the corridor.

As the door clicked shut, the evening shadows finally claimed the entire room, plunging it into complete and unrelenting darkness.

——————————————————————-
Next chapter: link

Links to previous chapters:
link link link link link link link link link link link
link link link link link link link link link link link
link link link link link link link link link link link
link link link link link link link link link link link
link link link link link

It is surprising how losing your original chapters make you rewrite them so succinctly. I beg you, don’t kill me for this crappy chapter. I’m sort of burnt out, trying to rewrite these chapters that originally took around two weeks to make decent.

But there will be action! LOTSA ACTION! I just need to rewrite it. *sighs*

Anyone follow NaNoWriMo? I heard about this author who lost 30k words, and I thought, ‘Gawd, I feel her pain. And it’s less painful than mine. ><’

The lesson? Back up, back up and back up again. And don’t do it on a flash drive.

Rock Cookies for you, dear reader! I just had them this morning.