You Got Another Thing Coming - Part 4

5 years ago…

A newspaper from the Haronda Herald. Headlines described the destruction that the Huskites were causing in the outer district. Death was everywhere, as the golems broke both bone and soul. The gates were closed to the people left in the outer district. They were doomed to die. They were left as sacrifices for the nobles to turn their backs and escape.

But there was one powerful mage who stayed behind. No one knew her name, or her face. But everyone knew what happened when a golem dared cross her path. The only remains of the golems were the diamond eyes in completely crushed and dusted piles of metal, as if a god had stepped on them, like a human crushing an ant.

Present day…

Gretchel was laying on the ground, chillin’. The other grey robes were knocked out, and we placed them by Gretchel. She looked pretty drained and defeated. Like, her minions were literally laying around her, and all she could think was how she contradicted her own beliefs for some rebels or terrorists or something.

The coast looked clear outside of the house, but the sky started flashing like fireworks. I saw a bunch of wizards flying around on brooms fighting floating grey robes. This looked like an actual war, and we’re just holed up in this school. It wasn’t quiet in the western front over here.

“Gal, how are you feeling?” Lara asked.

“I’m fine, just chillin’.”

“That’s cool.” Artium said.

“Righteous!” Elki exclaimed.

“I thought it was ‘right on’...” Scott said.

Well, now all of my buds were using my “other world” speak. Excellent.

“Students and attendees, please direct your attention to me.” Professor Schmutzal was sitting on a lecture chair. Where did she get that from?!

“I have terrible news to share. First, the guild cannot enter the school due to an enemy blockade on the main road. Second, there are limited supplies due to the school’s kitchen being closed for graduation services. However, there is a little bit of good news.” Prof pointed directly at the stadium.

“300 years ago, during the Civil War of Faralon, the southern duchies tried to invade Haronda to annex it and use the guild against the northern duchies. However, the southern duchies did not anticipate the difficulty. They tried to invade the school, and the students fought back. If you remember your Contemporary History of Sorgez class a few years ago, the students of this very school were the reason why the northern duchies won the Civil War.”

Holy shit, this was just like the Civil War of the United States! A bunch of kids also fought and died. I wonder if it was about slavery, too.

“The principal of the time, Yorez von Heiml, took his graduating class of 200 to that very stadium you graduated in today, and lifted the entire building to the sky. He sacrificed himself to open a portal big enough to teleport the stadium full of students into Tamlin, the capital of the southern duchies, and the students captured it in a day. The stadium was called ‘The Flying Fortress’, which is why we just call it ‘The Fortress’ today. We will go back to the stadium, and I will fly us to safety this time.”

Wait, is Prof saying she’s sacrificing herself?

“Lamget, no. If you summon a portal like that again, you will die.” Gretchel said, surprisingly. I’m kinda shocked.

“Gretchel, it’s my atonement.”

“You have atoned enough! Without you, Haronda would be full of walking metal skeletons by now!”

The room got weirdly quiet.

“Professor Schmutzal, you were a commander of the guild, but the guild backed away from the war. What is Gretchel talking about?” Lara asked.

“The ‘Ars Gravitas.’ I knew I heard that somewhere. It was you, wasn’t it?” My dad chimed in too. He was talking about when he had his ass saved by that hero.

“The Golem Hunter? That was you, Professor?!” Elki was completely entranced. Everyone in the room was looking at each other with shock and awe, like when people found out Freddie Mercury was gay. I mean, it was obvious, but it made him a hero to come out in public like that.

Prof looked sadly cornered. She looked like she was about to sing her last song of the tour.

“Yes. I was trying to hide from the truth as a Professor of this school. I am, or was, the Golem Hunter. After Gretchel’s angry visit to inform me of my mistake of closing the gate, I had to right my wrong. I went back out there in the outer districts, and I destroyed the golems myself. I had to hide my gravity magic somehow, so I just made their diamond eyes as heavy as a castle. That crushed their entire bodies instantly. Of course, it took a lot of mana and physical power out of me, which is why I am now a B rank.”

“I cannot believe it was you, Lamget. I would have killed my vengeful hero in blind rage. I’m so sorry.” Gretchel’s apology sounded so sad.

“I’m not the one you should apologize to. Look at these fresh new faces. You put them in danger with your faith in a false rebellion. Though I agree with the message, your masters have sunken their vision into a deep delusion of grandeur and self-righteousness. I would understand an attack at the King’s Hall, but why the school?”

“Yarlo and I had different reasons to attack the school, but the primary objective was to capture the ‘anomaly’.”

“The anomaly? What are you referring to?”

Gretchel pointed at me. What the-

“Him. Par Gally. Or whoever that is inside of his body.”

Whoa, this is bad… Now everyone knows I’m some freak! What’s gonna happen when the whole world knows?!

“I- I do not think he’s anomalous in nature. I should know, I’m his Professor!”

“You can’t fool me, Lamget. You are completely aware, aren’t you? His mana has a different color. You know this.”

What?! Mana has color too? I’ve never seen color in mana. It’s like an invisible flame over someone. Wait, I noticed that I’m usually a little red when I look in the mirror. I thought it was just the Monday Blues.

“Wait, uh, Gretchel and Prof… Why is it that you two are the only ones that can see the color of my mana, but my pals and my parents haven’t said a thing?” Arg coughed in my head. I guess him, too.

“You see, it’s because you must have a large enough mana bank to perceive other mana banks easily. You can see individual characteristics, such as spiritual alignment, elemental affinity, and source of mana, to give relevant examples. It is like standing on a tall tower to see where the roads go, versus just standing on the road itself looking forward. Mana gives us a 6th sense, if you will, to be able to understand someone’s magical capabilities. Most people are achromatic, which means there is pure mana. However, there are very small amounts of people in this world who possess a color in their mana. Usually, it’s undetected, but as I said before, you have to have a large enough mana bank to detect it.” It was just another lecture for Prof, I guess.

“Uh, so how big?”

“Enough to be S rank.” Gretchel said, smiling at me.

Wait a second, she tried to seduce me to capture me before the invasion? What’s that all about?

Everyone looked at the two powerful women in the room. That meant that Prof used to be S rank, and Gretchel was S rank, too. Wait, if she’s B rank now, how was she able to see my color?

I can explain that. Gally interjected deep within.

When you reach a certain mana bank size, you become hyper aware of the world and the leylines that connect mana. When the size shrinks, usually from older age, the senses remain because your brain is permanently attuned to it. It’s like one of your colorblind testing things in your otherworld. Imagine if you were blind to green, but all of a sudden, you could see green again. You wouldn’t be able to ‘not’ see green anymore, right?

Oh, I get it now. That’s sick!

Wonderful explanation, Gally! Arg randomly popped in. In addition, your color is completely unique to you. Gretchel is golden yellow, and Lamget is lavender. Red and black are the rarest hues of color, and you are dark red yourself. You are rare among the rarest.

My original mom always called me special, so I guess this is how it looks in this world.

Perhaps your soul, Ricky, was black to begin with, because Gally was originally red.

Gally was already S rank?!

Yup! In the making, anyways. You’re S rank, too. Remember when I told you I summoned you from the other world? Your mana was strong enough to withstand the transition of worlds. Gally felt super excited to finally explain this to me.

Are you saying that all three of us in this one body, is like triple S rank or something?

Yes! Both Arg and Gally cheered.

Meanwhile, I looked like a zombie when I was talking to the souls in my head. The whole room was looking at me like I was naked.

“Yes, he is an anomaly, indeed.” Lara had one of her eyebrows all the way up to her forehead.

“Par Gally, he has summoned a hero from another world, has he? Or, he has become Par Gally. And he has a Grand Spirit as his guardian, if I’m not mistaken.” Gretchel totally got me.

The students and parents were yelling, cheering, screaming, and whatever they were doing. They ran to me and began bowing their heads down. It was like if Jesus actually came back on Easter in a crowd of Catholics.

“The Prophecy has been answered! The coming of the Holy Trinity will save us from eternal doom!” One of the parents screamed loudly in my face, and then bowed to me like a Japanese samurai to his lord. I looked around and I was totally blown away. I didn’t know what to think of it. Was me coming here like some god descending from the sky or something?

“Yes, the Prophecy. That was why the New Haronda Front came here. To find you, and use you as their figurehead. Imagine the destruction you would cause to the olden nobles.” Okay, who just said that?

“GAL, BEHIND YOU!” Lara screamed at me from the top of her lungs.

I looked behind me, and some tall ass dude in a golden robe was standing way too close to me. He had one red eye with a scar running through it, and he looked like he was a desert elf, according to Arg. He looked super dangerous. I can see his mana color too. It was dark blue, almost black, but a hint of turquoise around the black flame.

“First of all, we do not need failures in the ranks of the NHF.” The guy disappeared from me, and reappeared on top of Gretchel. Holy shit, this was getting scary. He started stomping her out. Gretchel was screaming in pain.

“YOU STOP THAT!” Elki was pissed. She slammed the ground with her two great swords and lightning came out of her eyes and her hands. Wait, how did she sneak those in?! She flashed into the guy, and knocked him 40 feet away from Gretchel. Scott saw what she did, and he shot a water arrow at the guy. Nice, the age old electricity and water trick. Wait, how did Scott sneak his bow in too?! The guy exploded with a bunch of mist from the water.

Actually, he didn’t. He instantly reappeared behind Scott and FLICKED him. Scott shot up to the ceiling and fell back down pretty hard before anyone could catch him. Then, he Superman’d into Elki, knocking her on her ass. He then reappeared right in front of me while he brushed dust off of his robe.

“You have loyal followers already, Holy Trinity. Imagine if you had stronger followers, such as myself.”

“Hey, dude. You’re hurting my friends. I’m gonna kick your ass.” I pulled my lute out, and before I was able to play a note, Elki and Scott got up and surrounded this guy. My parents, Prof, and Artium joined them.

“None of you are worthy of my time. I will show you why.” The guy cracked his neck, and smirked.