Alkalians (16 page)

“
So, that is how I took
down Matt so quickly. With one bite to rip open the vital region of
his neck, his health energy, already lowered by my constriction,
quickly descended to the red zone and he had to demorph.” Pausing a
moment to let the information sink in her students, she then asks,
“And can anyone tell me
why
I defeated him like that?”

When no one, even Rose, could give her
an answer, she explains, “Because I wanted to show any who would
watch – as you all did – how one doesn’t need special powers or
abilities to outmatch his opponent. It isn’t just about what powers
he can use, but also about how he uses them, and where he places
them in his foe. That is how I was capable of defeating Matt, who
was well protected with plate armor from my fangs, with a single
bite.”

While some of the freshmen nod in
understanding, Jordan raises his hand and says, “But, uh,
Professor, you didn’t let Matt use his guns or magic, just his
sword. That put him at a great disadvantage against
you.”

“
That may be true, Jordan,
but that didn’t mean he was completely helpless against me. I
didn’t use my own arsenal of spells, either, and it’s not
impossible for a slower fighter to win against the faster one. Am I
right, Matt?” After Matt nods, she continues, “So, the important
point here is that, no matter what kind of powers one may have,
they can still be defeated by a coordinated combination of
techniques to hit his weak spots and leave vital wounds on him.
Therefore, I don’t want to hear anymore of you all being afraid to
face Matt here in a spar. Even though he has his own kind of
special powers, you can still have a chance of harming and
defeating him. Do you all understand?”

After the freshmen nod or say “Yes,
Professor,” Serpanz waves them off with her hand and says, “Now,
you may all spar.” She turns to Matt, tells him, “You may rest for
a few minutes before we spar again,” and whips a sharp glare at
Roger to remind him, “And you still owe me ninety push-ups.” He
miserably gets back on the ground to resume the punishing workout
while everyone else begins their spars.

***

Once gym class ends and the students
are changed and departing, Matt, despite his fellow freshmen
somewhat more tolerable to his presence, if only because they are
more afraid of Serpanz than him, again feels forsaken and tabooed
amongst the other students as they avoid him in the halls. Trying
not to show he notices or cares about it, he slowly makes his way
through the large entrance doors and out of the building, only to
cause gathered groups of students to scatter like flocks of birds
away from him before resuming their chatter. Feeling awful about
their behavior towards him, he spots one figure nearby who hasn’t
reacted in alarm to his presence. Instead, Dante Goros keeps his
pose in the shadow of the building, leaning against the wall while
smoking and appearing oblivious to all around him. Forgetting
concern for himself, Matt comes over to him and asks, “Uh, hey,
Dante. Are you feeling better, from before?”

Taking the cigarette from his mouth to
puff out a wisp of smoke, Dante nods and says, “Fully recovered,
Matt. As I said, nothing but a flesh wound.”

“
Oh, that’s good, then!
And, again, I’m sorry for the overboard strike to finish you off, I
didn’t mean to harm you that much.”

“
No apology is necessary.
In the heat of battle, one can easily become carried away and do
more than they need.” Dropping his cigarette to rub it out, he then
tells Matt, “By the way, you’re a Dark Warrior.”

“…
I’m a what?”

“
A Dark Warrior. That’s
the reason why your attacks seem so powerful and do much more
damage against others’ morphs than they should. And…” He gestures
to the people yet casting uneasy or scornful looks at Matt from
behind him. “That’s why everyone is now so afraid of
you.”

“
Huh. Okay. But, why? Why
are they so afraid of me, just because I’m a Dark
Warrior?”

“
Well, there can be a
number of reasons for that. They are afraid of someone who’s
different from them. The history and reputation Dark Warriors have.
Or the jealousy of the powers of a Dark Warrior. Any one of those
can be a factor.”

“
No kidding? Hmm. What
kind of history or reputation do Dark Warriors have,
then?”

Raising an eye brow, Dante asks him,
“You really don’t know about Dark Warriors?”

“
No, I’ve never heard of
them.”

“
Hah, well, that’s
interesting. In that case, I probably shouldn’t be the one to tell
you about that. You could go look it up in the library, or ask
somebody you’re more comfortable with about it.”

“
Oh, okay.”

“
Good. Well, I’ll leave
you to that, and be on my way.” He starts walking away from him
until he turns around. “Oh, and Matt. You can be sure that, despite
what others think, I am neither afraid nor hateful of you. Rather,
you may count me as an acquaintance to call upon for a favor when
you need it. I’m sure you will need it, sooner or later.” Strolling
down the path towards the cabins, Dante leaves Matt blinking and
rattled by things he apparently knows nothing of, but everyone else
does.

***

Later that night, Matt is
in his cabin room, sitting upon his bed and deep in thought. He has
not told Sean or Rose of his encounter with Dante yet as they were
busy with Sean’s homework and then ate dinner. Sean had left the
cabin for some reason of his own, and Rose was getting ready for
bed. Matt has already changed into black pajamas and could use some
sleep, too. However, he is yet wondering what could be so bad about
him being a Dark Warrior. In little fits of despair or anger, he
keeps asking himself what makes him so different from everyone
else. Why is one like him called a
dark
warrior?

A knock at his bedroom door pulls
Matt’s attention to it. “Come in,” he says.

Rose enters, dressed in a green
nightgown. She leans against the wall, sighs, and asks, “So, Sean
and I noticed you were rather moody this evening. There were also
moments we thought you were debating on asking us something, but
you then decided against it. Would you like to talk to me about it,
now?”

Matt chuckles to himself, knowing that
she’s right and embarrassed she and Sean had noticed. He then tells
of his meeting with Dante and what he told him while she listens.
After he finishes, Matt tries to dispel the gloom in the air by
saying, “You know, now that I’ve thought about it, I feel I’ve
heard of Dante before now, but I can’t pinpoint it.”

“
I thought about it, too,”
Rose tells him. “And I remember. Dante Goros. He’s part of the
Goros family, the noble clan that rules the state of Saratu to the
south of here. I heard in the news once that Dante and his sister
had become the new heirs to the Goros family.”

Matt nods as he remembers it, and
sighs before returning to the greater topic. “Rose, what is a Dark
Warrior?”

Rose frowns before explaining, “In
today’s society, Dark Warriors are often associated with the
terrorist group Shadow Core, or the S.C. These terrorists have done
many criminal acts in the past, but, thanks to the government
encouraging people to fight back, their numbers have greatly
dropped. There used to be any criminal Alkalian in the group, but
now it is made up of Dark Warriors, only.”

A lot of things then make sense to
Matt, his expression briefly enlightened before darkening again. “I
see. I have heard of the Shadow Core terrorists, but I was never
told they were Dark Warriors, nor that I am one myself.”

Rose nods, saying, “Yeah, it was
probably an attempt from your parents to protect you from feeling
bad about yourself, that you were somehow like the very men your
father has to watch out for.”

“…
Right.” Rather than
feeling worse about the discussion, to his wonder, Matt finds he is
feeling somewhat better by talking with Rose, and he keeps the
conversation going. “So, is that the only thing bad about Dark
Warriors, or is there more?”

Rose walks over and sits on the bed
beside him, collects the facts, and tells him. “The reason Dark
Warriors are tabooed, and why the S.C. is still a considerable
threat to society, is because of the built-in effect they have in
their battle morphs. Their attacks automatically cut through enemy
defenses, so they do severe damage and create huge wounds. What I
mean is, it’s like the opponent isn’t even in morph, and the only
thing preventing them from being killed is the battle morph’s
health energy.

“
There’s another thing
about Dark Warriors you should know. They can be any type of
Alkalian, but the trait is extremely rare. Especially since their
ancestors were nearly brought to extinction long ago. In the Age of
Chaos, before our nation was founded and organized, there were many
kinds of Dark Warriors about, but the wars soon tore them to
pieces, and only remnants from those times survive today, most
joining the Shadow Core terrorists.”

Matt nods in understanding, saying,
“Uh huh.” Then smiling a little, he looks back to her. “You do know
a lot about stuff, don’t you?”

Rose, blushing slightly for the
moment, says, “Well, most of it’s just common knowledge, nothing to
praise over.”

The two sit there for an awkward
moment, neither one sure of whether to keep the conversation going
or head off to bed, until an idea comes to Matt while he is
glancing over Rose’s figure. “Hey, Rose?”

“
Yes?”

“
Um, I know we’ve only
been here a few days, but I was wondering if you, being a, uh,
woman, also, may have heard some things about her. Do you know
anything about Amelia? Amelia Rotin?”

A bit startled by the question and its
subject, Rose delays in response. “Uh, well, yeah, I suppose. She’s
a senior, and, um, second-in-command of Lyn’s associates. But you
probably already knew that.”

“
Yeah, I did. What else
have you heard about her?”

Her expression showing she doesn’t
want to, Rose sighs and tells him, “Well, these are only rumors
I’ve heard, just rumors. But, it seems Amelia has a reputation here
at the college, kind of like the boss students. Except, she’s not a
boss student. She’s a different kind of student.”

“
What does that
mean?”

“
Ugh, Matt, I’m only
telling you this - and this is only what I’ve heard - because I’m
concerned for you if you’re going to be around her and Lyn’s other
girls. You see, she’s apparently
promiscuous
.”

“…
Sorry?”

“
Oh, how do I put this
plainly? She, she likes to sleep around with other men.”

It takes a moment for Matt to register
what Rose is trying to say, and then he gets a stunned look on his
face. “Oh! Uh, wow, do you think that would be true?”

“
I don’t know, Matt, and I
really don’t want to know. All I can say, like Sean said, is you
should be careful around her, Lyn, and the other girls. Just don’t
get into something with them you don’t understand or can’t
control.”

“
Yeah. I’ll be careful
around them.” Matt yawns. “Well, we should probably be getting to
bed.”

“
Agreed.” After standing
up, Rose watches curiously when Matt reaches over to the night
stand by his bed and grabs a small container of pills. “What are
those?”

“
Oh, this is my medicine.
It’s a prescription I have to take before I go to sleep. It
supposedly keeps me asleep for the night. I’ve had it ever since I
was a young kid; I can’t remember a time when I didn’t take
it.”

“
Ah, okay.” Rose starts
out the door, and calls back, “Good night, Matt.”

“
Good night, Rose,” he
returns. She leaves for her room, and Matt pops a pill into his
mouth, swallows, and lies down in the covers. After a deep sigh,
he’s asleep, his last thoughts about his difficult predicament of
being a Dark Warrior, and Amelia.

***

As the school week leads into the
weekend, two full days without study hours, Matt and Rose, after
all the work they had done, want to rest until the next busy week
to come. However, Sean has other plans. After begging and enticing
them, he convinces them to join him at a special place on the
college grounds, a place where, according to him, all the students
go to party and enjoy themselves at night. The three head for a
large building about a mile away from the college complex, dazzled
with glowing lights and right next to a river. In the bleak
darkness before the building’s lights, they pass many other
students from different class levels flocking towards
it.

When Matt, Rose, and Sean enter
through large shining doors, Sean announces, “Matt and Rose,
welcome to the Alkalian College Casino!”

Matt and Rose gasp at the sight before
them. The entrance hall of the building is vast and magnificent,
its background gold and glittered with lights and jewels. A
majestic waterfall takes up the center of the palace-like room, and
to its sides are smaller hallways that lead in different directions
deeper into the building. Many people are spread out in the
entrance hall, and several more are moving in and out of the
hallways. This many people in one area is a shock to Matt and Rose
as they had been so busy they forgot there are so many students on
campus.