Aish*teru (I Love You) Interlude IX: Shiken (Trial)Follow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is Interlude IX of my love story ************ (I Love You)[/i].

Previous chapters, aki, and Interludes

(Chapter XLV): http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1131636452150807743
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Part I - Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II - Kodoku (Solitude)

Part III - Reunion (Saikai)

Kasho IV- Suriyoru (Closer)

Part V- Secrets (Hiou)

Kasho VI- Hanarebanare (Apart)
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Bonus Story: Rainfall Memories

Don’t own anything FFXI related.

No dedications this time...but expect a new chapter tomorrow with it aplenty.
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Interlude IX: Shiken (Trial)
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“Fill out these forums miss, if you wish to join the defense forces of the Marquisate of Tavnazia.” I looked up nervously from the mass of black and white text that had just been dumped into my lap, and into the cold eyes of the elvaan recruitment officer.

I could tell out of the bottom of my eye that his chest was pumped out towards me, and the various metals that he had earned in the defense of Tavnazia shone prominently on his chest right below his rank ensign. Even withstanding his height he was quite an imposing figure, and well suited to his job.

I was in a military base inside the Marquisate of Tavnazia, after having been led there by my newfound friend Prishe. She had introduced me to a couple of Tavnazian Guardsmen, who after a small demonstration of my magic abilities, rushed me immediately over to this one roomed recruitment building just less than a quarter-milm away.

The general looked back down at me with a stone gaze that brought me back to the present and then proceeded to scowl at me slightly. “Is something wrong miss?,” he said quietly, but in a semi-dangerous tone of voice that only resonated in the quiet small room that we were in.

I shook my head violently in a ‘no’, before picking up a quill and then dipping it into a small ink well. I then tapped the excess ink off against the side of the small ceramic container, before quickly scanning the page down its length, trying to read it. Quickly, I found that letters blurred quickly together and I didn’t know most of the English words they used...

But I signed my name anyways at the bottom in the best impression of English letters that I could do.

Barely recognizable but hey, it works.

The ink had not even dried before the officer ripped it away from my hands, and clutched it tightly in his right hand. “Alright private, you are now gonna get to test your might and magic out in our training arena just over past the officers’ hall next door. This test is so that your skill level may be measured and therefore you can be properly placed within the correct magical defense ring.”

He motioned with a gloved left a fellow junior officer over, and whispered something quietly into his ear. Immediately, the junior officer snapped to attention and then gently grabbed the crook of my elbow. I resisted at first, but eventually gave in when I realized that he was going to lead me out of here. As we reached the door and I reached out to turn the brass handle open, it suddenly flipped open, taking me by surprise.

“Go ahead,” rang out a semi-metallic voice from the other side. His armor clanked as pulled the door a bit further away from its resting place, blocking his view of me and my escort but allowing us both to pass our way to the outside street. He held the door open like a true gentleman would, and didn’t let go until my escort and I were nearly around the corner.

Looking up ahead, I focused on the place that we were quickly approaching on up upon. It was a low hanging place, with a worn brown tiled roof and cermet walls along with no windows on the front exterior, but instead only a plain blue door with a black knob jutting out of the front. A rather sad sort of place, as if it had seen much devastation inside of its walls and it seemed like it was about to fall apart at any moment. As we stepped over the weeds on the broken pavement path, I saw a small slot hidden into the door pop open, and a set of eyes peer out at us. The twin circles watched our every move until we got close enough to the door for my escort to flash his military badge up.

“Testing a new recruits strength in the Dark Arts, please let us in.” he said quietly. After he did so the slot’s cover snapped back into place, and a faint sound of locks being undone could be heard before the door finally swung inwards to admit us in.

“Tank you...” I said, realizing that my English still wasn’t quite perfect yet.

The building was a bit dim on the inside but as my eyes adjusted quickly, I could see that was just as plain on the inside as the outside. The cermet walls were heavily reinforced with what looked a silvery substance running through it in veins, glittering underneath the glare of the single light in the room that happened to be dangling down from the ceiling on a single thread. The floor was bare except for a bunch of mannequins posed lifelessly around the room, giving everything a creepy kind of surrealism to it.

“Is this the recruit?”

The voice came from who I assumed was the elvaan who let us in. He was pale in appearance, but still commanded much the same presence as the General did. His voice was thin, but still strong and I could tell that this is the man that I would be judged by.

My escort gave a crisp salute, and then rapped back a “Yes, sir!” instantly.

“Alright then...let’s see what you have got, eh?”

The pale elvaan tapped my shoulder, and then directed my gaze out towards the mannequins posed lifelessly in the room.

“Your test is simple...blow them all up.”

I couldn’t help but be confused by this request. “Blow...them up?,” I said slightly uncertain.

He only nodded, and then turned his attention back to me. “You may use only one spell, and it may only be casted once. If you cannot take down all of the mannequins in one shot, you will fail the test and be asked to leave immediately. Here in the Marquisate we want only the best, and if you cannot measure up to those standards than you don’t belong here. You may begin whenever you are ready.” With that he took a couple steps away, but never breaking his eyes from me.

I closed my eyes, and drew my hands slowly together, but for an instant.

My left hand dipped down towards the planet, while my right traced an arc over it. A brown light appeared along its path, holding into place while my right hand stopped pointed downwards. As I then slipped my left and in a semi-circle underneath my other one and drew it away to a pointed angle, I could feel the air around me start to shiver, the temperature rising as more and more lines to the spell were being drawn.

“Oh my Goddess...she’s not going to...not possible...”

Those words came from one of those feeble spectators, who could no doubt barely comprehend what I was doing.

The mana inside of me started to trace its way down my arms and into my fingertips, only to flow out of my body and into the light brown lines still being drawn by me. This was a long spell, as the design that I had to draw was fairly complex and required a fair effort on my part to keep from breaking. I hadn’t ever really had a reason to cast this particular spell before or any other of its kind really, except once when I tried to kill the Archduke of Jeuno so long ago...

When I truly began to first fall for him...

The sweat started to bead up on my face, and I knew that my eyes had turned brown to match the kind of spell that I was casting.

As I neared completion of the magic circle, it started to give off green and purple sparks, pulsating with my raw mana, and clearly ready to destroy anything that dared to come in it path.

“Dawn and Twilight, guide my hands to break this place of cold stone and earth.”

With that, I threw my hands pointing directly towards the ground. Immediately, the circle flew down into the ground, disappearing quickly into the cermet.

Three.

Two.

One.

The whole place started to quake, the light overhead swinging crazily back and forth. The earth began to split, leading away from me feet and engulfing the entire branched path that the mannequins laid on, topping all of them instantly into the widening gulf.

Finally, the shaking stopped when I expected it would.

But I couldn’t help but smile with a bit of self satisfaction as it was then that one of the supposedly impervious to magic walls chose to collapse into dust, exposing the outside world to the going-ons inside this once secret place. Quickly, I turned around to see my sole spectator slack-jawed, and I couldn’t help but feel a certain self-satisfaction.

After a moment, the pale elvaan finally spoke.

“Welcome to the military."

-fin Interlude IX: Shiken (Trial)

Ooooooh, I love when Hitomi kicks ***...

Yay!!! More Aishteru!!!!!