2.1 The Merry Band: Gungnir

During my first year at the academy, three years ago, was the first time I had heard about the legendary weapon Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

On the north end of the Seganôn garden, the one with the long path leading to the castle, hosted by, and named after, the capital: the Eldiron Boarding School. It is here where we, as young and proud Twynnians, are educated and trained into the finest knights, guards, tacticians, protectors, heralds and anything really that serves our nation.

I sat on the edge of my bunkbed the morning of the first day of school. For some reason, I felt the urge to give one heck of an introduction. Perhaps this urge arose from the thought of having to introduce myself later today. I stood up and slowly controlled my breathing. A deep breath in, hold it… hooold it, and—out.

Well, anyway, without further ado:

“I am Leith, son of none and an avid reader of tales, magic and history. My speciality would be—”

A sudden attack from an unkown entity above had me down on the ground. I rubbed the top of my head that hurt the most.

“Ouch…”

I opened my eyes and saw two legs connected to that ‘unknown entity’.

“Get… off… me…!” I struggled pushing the weight of his body aside. Unfortunately, that has more to do with my lack of strength than his weight.

After a big yawn, he stretched his arms high above his head. “That hits the spot.” He turned his head sideways. “Huh? Leith? Why are you sleeping underneath me?”

“Are you an idiot or something?” As I finally got back on my feet, I angrily turned his way, leaned forward and gave his forehead a big flick. “You were the one who fell on top of me, Odin!”

The two of us have been sharing this room since Friday night. It would be a great, great, great understatement to say that we are not in the slightest getting along. He’s not even a bad guy or anything, just one big idiot.

“Say, Leith, isn’t my uniform a little too small?”

Just when I thought I had thoroughly prepared for the challenges of the day by rehearsing my introduction, this fool put on a shirt that reveals his belly button.

Enraged, I lost my sense of logic and started pulling it off him. “That’s my uniform!” Even though I knew that I wouldn’t get it back unless I let him unbutton it first.

If there’s one thing I have to admit that’s admirable about him, it’s that he takes his education serious. We still have half an hour left before we need to leave for class and the both of us are fully prepared. I realised that we sat in the same position, which felt as if he was copying me.

“I’m getting kind of bored,” he said. “Wanna see something cool?”

The smirk on his face told me all I need to know; he’s up to no good—

“Of course.”

—but that won’t stop the curious me of figuring out what it is.

“Alright. Watch this!” He placed his left hand on his right elbow and slowly raised his arms above his head as he casted the spell, “O’ spear of unmatched accuracy, strike fear into anything that dares oppose me. Come forth: Gungnir!”

A blue circle started expanding right in front of his feet. The back of a spear slowly emerged out of the ground. I thought he was an idiot—I know he is one—but he’s a crazy strong one at that. The entire room was set aglow in his blue light.

“So, whaddya think?” He asked as he held the most fearsome lance I had ever seen with my own eyes.

Seeing such a strong weapon, one I had only read about in books, be summoned out of our dorm room’s floor… I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The very second I tried putting my awe into words, he collapsed onto the floor.

“Odin!”

I rushed over to him, but there wasn’t anything I could do.

“What was that just now?” A teensy voice asked as it opened the door. A boy I had come across in the hallways once or twice stood in the door frame. “Aaah! This bad! …I need to do something. A spell of healing, cease his fatigue or cleanse him of a hex? Oooh I don’t know what to do…” He was biting his nails as he stared at Odin.

I wanted to tell him what happened, but hesitated in how to phrase it.

“I better do something… Anything will do right? Right?” His voice got shakier with each word he spoke. He held his hands out in front of him and shouted out, “Heal All!” Those words, the spell he casted, blasted a green light through the entire room. Small particles of light remained floating in the air as he, too, collapsed on the floor.

“What kind of chaos is this…” I hopelessly murmured.