Divulgence (Song of Sophangence Book 2)

by E. I. McAllistair

  Finally, he slipped into unconsciousness from the savagery, causing a green dome to spring forth, pushing the lions away from their hapless victim. Completely drenched, Dan stood from the muddy pit that had been made from the deluge, creeping up to these strange things that seemed to be awaiting some command from him. Touching one, he found it to be slick, but the paper was still intact, and he could still feel it. As if by some subconscious cue, the two great cats shook themselves, the residual water flying from their bodies, then burst into individual sheets of paper, collecting themselves for him to store again in his holsters. In a turn of events no one expected, they watched as the happy Papermaster ran back to his friends in victory.

  Jumping onto Anaar as he caught the excited boy, still drenched and pumping his fists in the air as his legs were wrapped around Anaar’s waist, and Anaar was holding him steady, he clambers down off the Anaar still beaming with excitement. “I did it! I did it! I beat Scrotes!”

  Looking down at his now damp front, “Yeah, good job Dan, but next time you plan on mounting someone like a horse, could you at least be dry?”

  Looking over embarrassed, he rubs the back of his neck, shaking his head full of wet curls. “Oh yea, I’m sorry bout dat. I was so excited…”

  “It’s fine. I think I can manage a bit of wetness for such an epic finish. You managed to make waterproof paper! I told you that it was possible! So how did you do it?”

  Smiling broadly, “No fuckin’ idea!”

  Everyone sighs in exasperation, giving him looks of disgust or pity at his hopelessness.

  “Dan, I don’t think you should be excited that you have no idea.”

  “Aww come on Mags! Don’t ruin da moment! At least we know I can do it!”

  Stefani, resuming her normal demeanor of positivity chimes in. “He is right. Even if he doesn’t know how, he at least knows it is possible now. That is a pretty good start right?”

  “Stef, don’t celebrate mediocrity. Dan! You better get with Anaar and start figuring this out ASAP!”

  “Wait a minute, now you are giving me orders too? Will I ever just get a moment to myself?!”

  “Not while we have a concert to plan!”

  “I swear I’m going to go into my room and not come out.”

  Giving him a menacing look, Maggie pokes him in the chest, immediately wiping her finger on her pants from the moisture. “Oh no you don’t. You have been absent for far too long. We know where you live. You have lost time to make up for.”

  They all laughed and joked around, taunting and teasing Anaar as they awaited their next matches. Much to everyone’s glee, they all proceeded to the next round without much incident. Better yet, they had not been pitted against each other thus far, though they knew it was coming soon. They then received the announcement that in the essence of time, the final round would consist of all six remaining students against each other. Due to the need for the change however, similar to the School Rankings Competition, this round did not allow any cooperation. This was likely specifically targeted at the quartet of friends, as the other two students would be at a complete disadvantage against the four of them.

  As the match started, they all gave each other smiles, knowing that whatever happened, there would be no hard feelings. While everyone prepared themselves in their standard battle stances, Maggie alone caught everyone’s attention as she instead of pulling out her bow, unhooked the large mystery item that had been strapped to her back. From it, she unfurled a large fan, so big it almost equaled her height. It was a deep shimmering green, with silver accents. If it wasn’t clear that it was intended to be a weapon, Anaar would have been mesmerized by its beauty.

  As soon as the match started, with two heavy swipes, she waved the fan, the leaves perpendicular to the ground, so that it caught the most air. What no one expected was the small tornado the two cross swipes would cause, as the currents of air, no doubt amplified by her abilities came together to create the raging funnel that went racing toward four of the other five combatants. Though Anaar and Stefani with their enhanced speed were fast enough to escape the worst of the raging gale, Dan and the other combatant were not so lucky, being swept up and blown away, taking them out of the fight before they could even begin.

  The Juggernaut that had been directly to Maggie’s right, was completely out of the path of the howling gale, allowing her to charge Maggie in an attempt to take her down while she was distracted. What she did not expect was that Maggie’s abilities allowed for her own enhanced movement, and she easily dodged the blow. Thinking she had Maggie right where she wanted her, in close striking range with Maggie wielding a large item made for dispatching multiple people at a distance, she had no way of planning for the elegant spinning slice Maggie delivered to her from the razor sharp edges of the fan. Sliced right down the middle, the girl bleeding heavily, crumpled to the ground.

  With only Anaar and Stefani left, Maggie was not ready to give up her momentum. This time instead of swinging the fan with the leaves perpendicular to the ground, she swung it with the fan spread open parallel. Instead of catching a great amount of wind, causing the massive gust from before, it was almost as if the fan sliced the air itself, and that in turn amplified by her powers sent a blade of air rushing at the two of them that had enough of an effect to leave a notch on the far wall behind them.

  In a flash, Stefani closed the gap to Maggie, but in the moment, she hesitated, unable to strike. Instead she thought if she could sing Maggie to sleep that would be a better way to stop the girl’s domination of the match. Anaar, never the one to miss an opportunity, utilized this hesitation between the two, to erupt a massive shockwave next to them, enough to render them unconscious, but not hurt them badly. Had Stefani and Maggie both not been so formidable, displaying new levels of power and ability, he might have let things linger, but he did not want anything to happen between him or his friends that they may regret, even if they had already agreed they would not take it personally.

  With the match called, Anaar was the victor as expected, earning a perfect score. Maggie however, earned a perfect score as well, as she took out most of the combatants, and in such a novel manner. Stefani received a near perfect score, while the other three earned a 95%.

  In their wrap up of the class, all anyone could talk about was Maggie’s impressive display, and how she once again proved that she deserved to be at the top of their class. Though everyone had to go their separate ways, Maggie and Anaar took the opportunity to get in some alone time during lunch, to catch up. It was not long before they were joined by Codi, which limited their conversation but as is expected of her opened new avenues for them to discuss.

  “Codi why didn’t you tell me Maggie had a big ass fan she could create localized tornadoes and wind blades with?”

  “That is what you get for being a shit best friend! I bet you there is nothing that Phave knows that I don’t know about!”

  Well at least he is keeping quiet about my powers.

  Maggie and Anaar simply look at one another, snickering as they must have thought the same thing.

  Hitting them both with a jolt, “What is it? What do you know? Are you little shits holding out on me? Is Phave holding out on me? Unless he is planning a surprise party for me with some strippers with fat asses you better not be holding out!”

  Maggie and Anaar look at each other, then back to Codi nodding their heads while snickering.

  “Yep, you got us. That is definitely what we are holding out on. Can’t fool you!”

  “That better be it! Do you know how long I have been asking for that?! He has no excuse now either. I know how much money you two have been making. If your best friend isn’t getting you strippers for your birthday, they are fucking useless! Do you know I have to prepare all year, scouting pole for Phave’s birthday? There is only so much of the monstrosities any sensible woman can stomach! Then there is the fact that his birthday is so close to Christmas, so I have to consider whether I want to get him more strippe
rs to tie into that… I tell you, responsibility is hard.”

  “I’m sure everyone is sympathetic to your plight in finding strippers.”

  “Are you making fun of me? And here I was going to get you strippers too! I figure I’d get you a mixed bag though since you virgins can’t be trusted to know what you like-”

  “And moving right along from the topic of birthday strippers… Maggie, that was some really impressive stuff you pulled out back there. I’m no weapons expert, but I’d say that looked pretty custom made like Pryshka’s Pratikaar. You are really taking unique to a whole new level. Unique manifestation, unique weapons, do you have a name for it?”

  “Yep! Tachikaze. Larry said it should mean something. I thought about something in Spanish, or maybe even Hindi, but since the weapon itself is technically Japanese I thought I’d go with that.”

  “That’s right! Japanese people rule! Except my mom. She’s a cunt. Oh and my dad, he’s a pussy. The rest of us are pretty awesome though!”

  “Codi, you seem to be have had knowledge of this whole endeavor. Does the weapon live up to its name? I don’t even know what it means.”

  “It’s basic as fuck. It’s essentially wind blade. If someone would have called me first instead of putting the first dumb shit she could think of into the translator, maybe she could have had something badass. Now it is forever engraved into the damn thing. The fan looks awesome, and Mags can do crazy shit with it, but the name ruins it.”

  “Hey! I like my name thank you very much!”

  Codi puts her hand up to cover her face and mouths to Anaar, “It’s shit.”

  “Maybe you can name my tonfas when I get my own. I should probably start investing in my own weapons now since I have the money.”

  “Tonfas are Chinese asshole!”

  “Really? I thought they were Japanese.”

  “Japanese people just made them better, as we do everything.”

  “Ok, well my tonfas will be the ones the Japanese made better, so then you can help me name them.”

  “That’s more like it. I can’t stand another one of these fuckups.”

  “Back to you though Maggie, what made you choose a giant fan in the first place? Not that it isn’t cool, and definitely gets style points. It also seems weaponized too.”

  “Yeah, that is your fault too! Just because you have three weapons, now you have everyone thinking they have to carry around their own private arsenal. Even Ripp doesn’t have that many weapons!”

  “How is this my fault? And I’m pretty sure Ripp has way more weapons. She is just a portal user, and a good one at that, so she can just leave them in a place where she opens a portal to them when she needs to.”

  “I’m with Phave on this one, you Freshies are way too weapon happy. I know about you and your guns too! Is blowing people up not good enough for you? A bullet in the ass has to be added in?!”

  “Those guns are extremely fun, and I wasn’t even the one who started it. Technically Ripp is the one who started it, and Phavian is the one who said I needed a gun for missions. Then he wouldn’t even let me have them!”

  Growing tired of their back and forth, Maggie intervenes in the conversation. “Okay you two that is enough. I know that to you guys it seems like we go overboard with our weapon choices, but my powers are pretty dependent on the things I use, and Anaar, well Anaar is just trying not to kill people.”

  “You can do that with one weapon. You don’t need 90!”

  “Anyway... I feel bad for poor Dan. He didn’t even get a chance to enter the fight before you blew him away.”

  “I’ll have you know I toned it down! I need to find a way to make it move faster. People like you and Stef are able to get out of the way too easily.”

  “I think it is just right. If it was any faster, it would be overpowered.”

  “Says the person who is the definition of overpowered.”

  “I am not overpowered!”

  When Maggie and Codi both give him scathing looks, he picks up his tray to leave. “There is a lot of judging going on over here, so I will leave you two so you can judge each other.”

  As he is walking off, Codi shouts at his back, “Only pussies can’t handle the truth!”

  With Anaar gone, Maggie and Codi continue their meal, talking about various things until it is time for Maggie’s next class. Grabbing her things to go, she accompanies Codi out, who makes some mention about Anaar ruining finals for her, before disappearing herself. Laughing to herself, she sends Dan a message just to make sure he is okay, even though he seemed fine as class was ending, and sets off to finish her own day of finals.

  28

  Sophangence’s strange academic schedule often left its students in a quandary. This was particularly the case for the new class of students who were not used to its whims. Maggie was no exception to this situation. Though they had most of their finals already, they still usually had a week or two of classes left afterward. Then after that, they had another three weeks of a break. For some students, the obvious choice was to return to their homes during that time, while others remained on campus, honing their abilities in leisure or simply languishing about.

  Maggie had not told her family about the break they had coming up, simply because she was not sure if she wanted to return home. Though she did miss things about home, such as hunting or the animals on the farm, she had grown to see Sophangence as her home as well. In her experience, most of her friends chose to remain on campus, so the opportunity to simply relax, hang out, and contemplate their next and last trimester of their Freshman year was quite appealing.

  She had also learned students utilized this time to catch up on things such as Exploration requirements, or training in their proficiencies. Though she had no fears about her small arms proficiency test, she felt it could not hurt to knock the rust off her skills. Stefani’s mentor Ripp was the foremost gun expert on campus, and she had even taught Anaar how to shoot. Since the Seniors only had just over another month before they graduated, she thought it may be a good idea to enlist her help, just to be safe.

  There was also the new weapon she had acquired, Tachikaze that she felt left much to be desired in terms of her handling. As it was a completely unique weapon, she knew she would need to develop her own unique art of handling it. It had a grace and elegance about it, unlike her other weapons, that demanded special attention. Pryshka, who also bore a unique weapon of her own creation had been quite interested, and willing to assist in her development.

  Even though she had initially sought out Anaar, they were becoming fast friends, Maggie found she shared something special with the mighty top-ranking Sophomore in the school. It was likely due to their shared experience of getting past being bested by one another, or that they were number 7 and number 8 in the school rankings.

  Something that struck Maggie as odd, was that Pryshka, much like Anaar, seemed to simply be good at everything. Though she understood Anaar’s intellect was on another level, especially considering he could compute at the level of a supercomputer and focus on multiple things at once without losing any concentration on the other tasks, Pryshka was different. Though she was smart and capable, when faced with something new, she often bungled it horribly. Through constant or repeated exposure however, she seemed to master even the most difficult of tasks in no time at all. This differed from Anaar because it seemed he was just good at things from the start.

  Being surrounded by such exceptional people, she found herself growing at an alarming rate, and she was ever hungry to become better, stronger. If she was to stay on campus, she would be able to spend even more time with these influences, and solely focus on the task of bettering herself. Though Anaar did his best to stay away from the spotlight, she had no such modesty, only seeking to prove herself more and more, gladly accepting the glory and recognition that came with it. That was after all the reason she came to Sophangence in the first place.

  Walking along, basking in the June warmth, she was jolted from
her various streams of thought by a call on her Vizer. Seeing it was Dan, she immediately answered, not at all bothered, and quite cheerful to receive his call. Though they had always been close, they had only grown closer in the past months, so any opportunity to talk to the oftentimes aloof southern boy made her smile.

  “Hey Dan! What’s going on?”

  “Oh, ain’t nothin’ goin’ on Mags. Why you thank somethin’ goin’ on?”

  “Uh, because you called me silly! If you just wanted to chat or hang out, I’m headed back to my room now, or we can meet at The Rack.”

  “Well I don’t wanna be no bother, if this ain’t no good time…”

  “Dan. I literally just said this is a good time. What is wrong with you? You are acting weird.”

  “This shit don’t get no easier man, any time ya do it…”

  “Seriously Dan, you are starting to freak me out. What are you talking about?”

  “I ain’t gone mess it up this time. I’m gone ask ya proper, so you know what I’m intendin’.”

  “Ok… I don’t know what you messed up before, but I’m listening.”

  “Mags, will you let me take you on a date. A real date? I promise I won’t take ya to no stuffy old liberry. I wanna do somethin’ nice and fancy.” With the words finally out, he released a huge breath, as if he had been holding it for quite some time.

  Stunned by what she was being asked, Maggie stopped short as she was walking, trying to rein in the flood of thoughts and emotions coursing through her. The mild June heat suddenly felt oppressively hot as her skin tingled from her rising body temperature. Though she could not see it, her face had become flushed, and there was a small trickle of sweat making its way down her back. Of all the things he could have said, asking her on a date was not something she had been expecting.

  Her voice much higher pitched than she intended, she croaked, “Okay!” Wondering if that was the appropriate response to someone asking you on a date, she suddenly became panicked, her voice squeaking even more. “I mean I’d love to! When do you want to go out?!”