"Oi, Thomas, you ready for round three?"
Thomas was lying on the floor, chest rising and falling as he caught his breath. He looked up at Allen Wright, an Observer Division member and his specially assigned teacher, who stood over him. Hands on his hips, Allen was trying to appear perfectly fine, but it was clear he was just as exhausted as Thomas.
"Yeah," Thomas answered, picking himself up off the ground. "Let's see if I can go three-for-three today."
Allen grinned, proud of his student. "I don't plan on letting that happen. I've got a reputation to uphold, after all," he said, motioning towards the small crowd that was gathered on the observation deck.
Thomas' and Allen's after-school spars had become something of an event at the Academy over the past three years, and as a result, Thomas himself had become a small celebrity.
Thomas snorted softly to himself. 'Celebrity' wasn't quite the word he'd use. He was well known, but few people actually spoke to him. His guess was that everyone was too scared of him. And why shouldn't they be? His tome turned him into a volatile, destructive weapon. It turned him into something that was barely human.
Allen made his way to the other end of the room, before turning to face Thomas. "Here we go!" He announced, while pulling out his Tome. It transformed into a massive hammer that seemed ridiculously heavy. Despite it's appearance, Allen could wield it as though it was no heavier than a feather.
Thomas' own Tome transformed into a black mask, which he then put on. As it stretched and grew to cover him completely, the crowd of students perked up, many of them craning their necks to get a better view.
"How about we put on a show for them?" his Tome said to him.
"Of course, Samoht. I've never been one to disappoint." Thomas replied to the strange voice.
Allen opened his mouth to say something, but before he could make any sort of sound Thomas had covered the distance between them and had punched him hard in the gut. Allen flew back a few feet, rolling backwards into his fall to swiftly get back up to his feet.
"I forgot," he said, smiling. "You don't like wasting time when you wear that thing." If it hadn't been for the flexible armor Allen wore beneath his clothing, the punch would have had him coughing up blood and bile.
Thomas made another fast dash towards his teacher, but this time Allen was ready. He threw his hammer at Thomas, forcing him to jump to get out of the way. The hammer reappeared in Allen's hands, and he jumped up, swinging at the mid-air Thomas.
Unable to dodge, Thomas' black body armor automatically stretched and morphed to create a circular shield to take the brunt of the hammer's blow. Thomas was sent sailing, gasping for air as he landed on all fours. Wasting no time, he charged his foe again. Allen tried the same trick, throwing his hammer at his student to get him off balance, but this time Thomas slid under the Tome head first. Once the hammer had passed him, he picked himself up onto all fours, pushing hard with his legs to send himself rocketing towards Allen.
Allen's eyes widened, and he teleported his hammer back to him in a panic. He was too slow, however, and Thomas was on him before he could swing. The student grappled the teacher to the ground and pinned him down. Allen sighed. At such a close range, his large hammer was useless. Unable to use his Tome, he knew he had lost. Again. What made it worse is that he hadn't even lasted two minutes this time.
Despite his disappointment and slight embarrassment at having lost to a boy who was a little over half his age, he couldn't help but smile. Thomas had made an incredible amount of progress since the two had met three years prior.
As Thomas stood back up, Samoht decided to speak again.
"Those children watching us," he said, referring to the small audience. "It'd be fun to give them a memory they would never forget, don't you think?"
Thomas looked over at his fellow students.
"What if we hospitalized one of them, hmm?" Samoht continued. "That'd give them all something to talk about at dinner tonight."
And for a moment, Thomas considered it. The power Samoht had over him was strange and had been a constant source of stress and worry for Thomas. But three years of counseling and mental training had given him the ability to ignore Samoht. Usually.
Shaking his head, Thomas made the armor that covered him recede back towards the black mask. After removing the mask, it transformed back into a black pocket book.
"As much as I'd like to call it a day," Allen said, rubbing his sore neck, "I think we should keep going. Final exams are coming up, after all, and if you don't graduate I'll be in trouble."
"Is there any real danger of that happening?" Thomas replied.
Allen gave a small laugh. "No, I guess not, but the higher marks you score, the better I look."
"It always comes back to you. Selfish old man."
Allen grinned. "Whatever, kid, I'll go get us some food. Go hang out with your friends or something, I'll be back in half an hour." With that, he exited the large room, leaving Thomas alone on the lower floor while the other students stared at him from above. He looked up at them, and a few of them visibly flinched.
He sighed softly. Friends. Right.
Thomas walked down the hallways of the Academy, looking for anything to do to kill time. A few students ran by him excitedly, talking about an explosion. Interest piqued, Thomas decided to make his way outside, to see if he could find out anything more about it.
A a heavyset teacher stood at the front entrance, blocking the way. A small crowd of students were hanging around, talking to each other uncertainly.
"The hell's going on?" one boy asked loudly. A few other students spoke up too, demanding answers.
"There's been some sort of terrorist attack near here. The perpetrators haven't been caught, so it's to dangerous to wander around," the teacher said firmly. He tended to be considered one of the ruder members of the Academy's faculty, but right now his voice had none of his usual condescension.
The students nervous chatter was multiplied. They were so preoccupied that none of them even seemed to notice Thomas' arrival. He wasn't the one making everyone afraid this time. That was a nice change of pace.
A boy close to Thomas spoke up, addressing his small group of friends. "Yo, guys, apparently the Citadel is under attack!" he said, staring at his phone. His friends gathered around him, disbelieving.
Thomas pulled out his own phone, checking various news sites to confirm for himself. Dozens of articles and images were already up, and Thomas could only stare at them, barely able to process what he was reading.
He took a seat on a flight of stairs, deciding all he could do was wait and see what would happen.
As Thomas read yet another article, his phone vibrated, telling him he was receiving a call from Allen.
He answered immediately. "Talk to me, Allen."
"I assume your rude greeting means you're alright?" Allen answered.
"Yeah, I'm fine. No one's allowed leaving the school, though, so I'm stuck here."
"Good. I want you to stay there. Can't risk having my star pupil getting hurt."
Thomas' brow furrowed and he gritted his teeth. "That's bullshit and you know it. If this were happening a month from now I'd be part of the Ultimatum and I'd be in the middle of this conflict."
"Stay where you are Thomas. That's final," Allen said as firmly as he could. "I've been given the call to duty, so I won't be able to communicate with you. Be safe." With that, he hung up.
Staying in the Academy was the smart thing to do, but it isn't what Thomas wanted to do at all. He had been practicing for the last three years. He wanted to see if all that time spent would be worth it when it came to a real fight.
He pulled out his Tome from his back pocket, and opened it to a random page. A small message was written inside.
Go. Escape the Academy and test out your abilities.
The words faded away, and the book morphed into it's mask form. Thomas put it on with no hesitation, his mind made up. As the black armor enveloped him he made his way towards the teacher, who still stood at the door. The man's eyes widened when he saw Thomas using his Tome.
"What do you think you're doing, Reeves?" he said in a mix of anger and fear.
Thomas stopped in front of him and stared him dead in the eyes. When wearing his Tome, Thomas' eyes were empty and white, and as the teacher was discovering, they were fairly unsettling.
"I-I'll get you expelled for this," the teacher said, attempting to sound in command but failing.
"If he doesn't get out of our way in the next few seconds, kill him," Samoht said. "You'd be doing the Academy a favor by ridding them of this pig."
To Thomas' horror, he felt the urge to do just that. He struggled to fight back the violent thoughts.
"Move," he said to the teacher, his voice a guttural growl thanks to his Tome.
The man's face paled and he stepped away, leaving Thomas free to exit the building. He took a quick look over his shoulder, seeing the crowd of students staring at him. That little event would do nothing to help his reputation, but in this moment he didn't really care.
He began to run towards the Citadel. Barely a minute passed before he felt his body being rocked by a nearby explosion. Pausing, he looked around to find the source. After quickly checking his immediate surroundings and seeing nothing, he decided to get to higher ground. He sprinted towards a nearby building and jumped, running into the wall with his legs with enough force to break the brick and give him improvised footholds. Next he cracked the wall with his hands, and began to quickly scale the building in this manner.
He reached the top and pulled himself up. An unbelievable amount of smoke billowed out of a burning building in the distance. Near it were two other smaller pillars of smoke.
Even in his near-feral state, the sight cause Thomas to pause in disbelief. In the morning it had seemed like the day would be just like any other. Now, however, it was clear that it wasn't a normal day. From the size of the explosions, there had to have been many people who were injured or dead. Thomas considered making his way over to see if he could help rescue anyone from the wreckage, but decided against it. He would likely become part of the Observer Division in a month's time. That meant his job would be to protect the Superior, who would most likely be at the Citadel.
Turning away from the destruction, he used the strength his Tome gave him to leap from building to building, avoiding the confusion and panic on the streets. It also helped keep him out of the sight of official personnel, though he still had to be careful. The number of soldiers continued to increase the closer he got to the Citadel, forcing him to move more slowly and quietly.
He noticed a figure on the roof of the Citadel, causing him to come to a stop and squint. What the hell was the person doing?
"We should investigate, Thomas." Samoht said.
Thomas, of course, agreed. Going onto the roof of the Citadel would probably mean that Thomas would be breaking a law or two, but that just meant that the other person on it's roof was even more suspicious.
He moved as stealthily as he could, deciding to observe the man for a bit before making a move, as he had no idea what the guy was actually doing.
