19: The Bells Ring

It's been a whole month since we've reincarnated into Goliath and joined Adora Academy. Time moves really fast here, I wonder if it's because I actually have real responsibilities again? Within our first month, all of us are starting to get a better grasp on our new world.

While the complex parts of speaking Frodian are still a little fuzzy to me, I find that going off into the capital and just talking to people has helped me the most. Learning how to order food correctly, learning what symbols correspond to their numbers, learning what all of the signs in the capital mean. In general, I'm actually enjoying the process of learning about my new culture.

Kira has also been training all of us really hard ever since our first training day. Every day we have off we go to those same fields and spar with her and Layla. While we still can't beat them, we've all made a lot of progress.

After school, all of us have been reading some of the basic spellbooks just so we don't always have to rely on spontaneous spells. I'll admit some of the spells are lame, but there are actually quite a bit that have practical uses such as a light spell when you're in the dark.

"Crow, are you even listening to what I'm saying? You looked space out again!" Mari says, her voice full of anger.

"Sorry, just thinking really hard again." I say as I stretch my arms out.

"Your eyes look dead, have you been able to catch any sleep lately?" Mari asks as she sits next to me on a bench in the courtyard.

"Nah, I've been pulling a lot of all-nighters. I'm actually trying to take my education seriously in this life. Between Elmar's class and Master Celine's, my brain has been working overtime." I say as I ate a piece of bread.

"Same here! It's a lot of pressure for sure, but I don't hate it. I'm actually doing a lot better here than I did at my old high school!" Mari says as she smiles.

Mari is like a ball of sunshine on the outside, but I can tell there is deep pain within her. One of the things I've noticed since being reincarnated is that all four of us were basically social outcasts in our previous life. Mari really hasn't revealed much about herself, but during some of our conversations, she mentioned how much she hated her high school. If I were to make a guess she was probably bullied, but why would they bully someone as sweet as her?

"Hey! Stop spacing out bird brain!" Mari says as she flicks my forehead.

"A little bit of sourness though… " I mutter.

"What are you even talking about you weirdo? Come on, we just have one more class then we're done." Mari says as she gets up from the bench.

Out of nowhere, we hear someone ringing the two bells at the top of the school.

"Two bells? I remember Kira mentioning something about that! What is it again?" I ask.

"It means something or someone is attacking the school! We gotta run to the front!" Mari says as she grabs my hand.

"We gotta find the others!" I say as both of us run into the hallways.

Everyone is scrambling out of their classrooms and I can even hear some people screaming. As Mari and I run further down the hallway we can now hear fighting and see spells being cast.

"Looks like we better get ready to fight!" I say as I pull out my dagger.

"Crow watch out!" Mari yells, as I look behind me and notice an arrow is heading right towards my head.

"Crow get down!" Jack says as he tackles me on the ground.

I look behind me and notice there's a pack of at least 50 goblins with bows and arrows. The ugly-looking creatures are laughing and taunting all of us.

"Thanks bro, that was a close one!" I say as Jack helps me up.

"Clean the dishes for me tonight and we'll call it even!" Jack says as he pulls his brand new axe out.

"So where did the gremlins even come from? How did they get in here?" Mari asks as she pulls out her staff.

"No clue, I was coming this way because Sachi went to the bathroom and never came back!" Jack says, as Taqa starts emanating from his body.

"Damn, talk about bad timing! We have to find her, do you know which bathroom she went to?" I ask.

"Yeah, the one all of those goblins are all standing next to!" Jack says as I peer over and spot the door to the girl's bathroom which is being kicked by the goblins.

"Sachi we're coming!" Mari says as Taqa emanates from her body.

"Out of our way! Scavian Art: Shadow Step!" I say as I bolt towards the pack of goblins.

"RAAAH!" One of the goblins screams as it seems he's commanding them.

All of the goblins fire arrows at me!

"Mardian Art: Radiant Shield!" Mari says as a giant magic shield appears in front of me blocking all of the arrows.

"Haha look, there all out of arrows now! Let's beat'em down Crow! Bracadier Art: Almighty Axe!" Jack says as he throws his axe and cuts down at least 20 of the 30 goblins.

"BAAH!" The goblin commands as a pack of them all start jumping towards me.

"Aww, how cute! You're going to have to be quicker than that guys! Scavian Art: Avian Attack!" I say, as I quickly slice and dice through all of them with my Taqa unleashing.

"I'll finish them off! Watch out Crow!" Mari says as I run into the bathroom for cover.

"Mardian Art: Ice Wind Blade!" Mari says, she shoots a giant magical blade out of her staff that takes out the remaining goblins.

"Good job guys, I think that's all of them on this floor!" Jack says as he looks around.

"Sachi! Are you in here? We gotta go!" I say as I can hear someone breathing in the bathroom.

"Is she in there?" Mari asks.

"I definitely can hear someone in here! Hello! Even if you aren't my friend you should probably get out of there, it's danger–" I say, as all of a sudden I hear loud and heavy footsteps walking out of the bathroom.

"Shut up you filthy Scav!" An enormous 10-foot goblin says, as he grabs me by my throat and breaks through the door.

"Ugh, run guys!" I say, as both Mari and Jack immediately look angry.

"It's a Goblin King! Master Celine told me about these creatures! Jack do what you can to distract it! Crow is in danger!" Mari says, her voice full of desperation.

"Don't have to tell me twice! I'm coming, bro!" Jack says as she sprints towards the Goblin King with no fear.

"Ah, a Bracadier is always a good fight!" The Goblin King says, his voice full of excitement as he clutches my throat even harder.

"Ugh… I can't… Breath!" I say as I try to grab a hold of my dagger in my holster.

"Stay strong Crow! I won't let you die! Bracadier Art: Earthquake Punch!" Jack says, as he punches the Goblin King in his knees.

"UGH! You little!" The Goblin King says, as his grip is starting to loosen up.

"Mardian Art: Blaze of Adora!" Mari says, as she sends a huge fireball at the Goblin King.

The ball hit's directly on it's body and it catches on fire.

"AHHH! I'm going to destroy you all! You'll pay for this!" The Goblin King yells, as he holds his stomach in pain and tries to wipe the fire off of him.

"We got him where we want him let's knock him down Mari!" Jack says, as he's preparing another attack.

"Give me a sec and I got you!" Mari says, as she nods at Jack.

"Ah, ah, ah! I'd stop attack me if I were you unless you don't care about your little Scav friend over here." The Goblin King says, as his grip on my throat grows tight again.

"Damnit!" Jack says, his voice full of frustration.

"Crow, be careful!" Mari says, as it's clear she's trying to think of something.

Out of nowhere, an arrow flies right into his eye.

"RAGH!" The Goblin King says, as he finally lets go of my throat and I fall to the ground.

I look up and notice that Sachi is here!

"Now Layla!" Sachi says, as Layla runs towards the Goblin King and jumps above his head.

"Scavian Art: Zero Point Slash!" Layla says as she shoots a white circular aura attack that cuts the Goblin King's head off.

"Thank Adora that you guys showed up when you did, the ugly thing bastard had us cornered." Jack sighs, his voice full of relief.

"Yeah, that was too close for comfort." Mari says, as she walks over to me and checks my throat.

"Crow, you have to stop being so reckless!" Layla says.

"Don't give me that crap, we were trying to find Sachi! Jack told us she was in the bathroom!" I say, my voice full of anger.

"Oh… I misjudged, my bad." Layla says, as she looks embarassed.

"I'm sorry for worrying you all, I didn't mean for you to get hurt!" Sachi says, as she starts tearing up.

"No, no! Don't cry Sachi, you would've done the same for us!" I say, as all of us head down to the front.

After a couple of hours, all of the instructors confirm that the school is safe again. Kira finds us and tells all of us to meet in 22-C.

"Crow are you good? That thing really left a mark on your throat." Kira says, her voice full of concern.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine! Mari did a little bit of healing on it, so I feel better now." I say.

"Good. Moving on, no one really knows where this attack originated from. All of us instructors have been tasked with a brand new investigation so we can get to the bottom of it." Kira says as she leans back in her chair.

"So that's it? Shouldn't we all be trying to figure it out right now! What if those things attack the capital next?" Jack asks.

"Have some patience kiddo! It just happened, we still aren't sure whether they attacked us out of their own volition or whether there's a ring leader somewhere." Kira says.

"My gold is on the goblins being controlled by someone. Goblins are strong, but they aren't stupid! Most of the time they'll only attack our kind if we're in their territory. Goblins being that bold is quite a rarity." Layla says, her voice full of intrigue.

"You're right. I've read up on them in the library and they tend not to fight us unless they know they have an advantage! Furthermore, a Goblin King can only appear if it has evolved from a master or some type of outside source." Mari says.

"Nothing about that attack made any sense though. Were they trying to send a message or something?" Sachi asks.

"It's too hard to say this early on, but I'm glad you kids are being sharp and paying attention! That means my lessons are working!" Kira says as she smiles proudly.

"I sure hope so with how much you lecture us!" Jack says, his voice full of annoyance.

"Perfect, that means you can do dish duty for the rest of the week, Jack!" Kira says.

"Huh, hell no! Crow's doing it!" Jack says as everyone starts laughing.

A new type of enemy has come to the horizon. With all of us getting a little bit used to this world, I'm starting to realize that Goliath is a lot bigger than I originally thought it was. I'm just grateful to have my friends going through all of this with me. It makes this huge new world feel a little bit smaller in a way.