Manifest War: The Weapons Within

When the sun reached its afternoon peak, Bridgette made her way into the LaVeda Messaging Center. The expression on her face as she took a seat was everything but excited, being filled with unhealthy amounts of disdain. Bridgette placed her hand on the slate and stared into the mirror, waiting for it to activate as she exerted her Core Energy.

Moments later, the image swirled and sitting before her was an older gentleman. His light blonde hair was purposefully slicked back and his two piece suit was of exceptional quality, not having a single wrinkle or fray anywhere. He stared back at Bridgette with an annoyed expression, his blue eyes piercing through her soul.

“Hello Father, you wanted to speak with me?” Bridgette calmly asked.

Unsurprisingly for her, he immediately responded.

“I’ve been told about your little incident with the other Dahlia’s at LaVeda. Do you think this opportunity is some kind of joke?” He replied with an incredibly stern tone.

“No sir. But I wasn’t the one that started it-”

Before she could even tell her side of the story, her Father swiftly interjected.

“I don’t care how it started, that is NOT how we carry ourselves. Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me with your outburst!? I almost lost the Bridgeford Family as a client today because of you!” He yelled with an intense scowl, causing spit to fling from his lips.

“But Father, am I just supposed to lay down and take their disrespect?” Bridgette said, finally getting a word in after her Father’s verbal assault.

“Yes, if it means you don’t cause trouble for high ranking nobles! I sent you to that school to build connections, not to tear apart and undo the years of goodwill I’ve built up. LaVeda has rules and as a member of the Vandel Family, I expect you to follow them without question because your actions reflect directly back to me.”

Bridgette remained silent as he continued to lash out at her, opting to no longer give her thoughts or opinions on the matter.

“Don’t you ever embarrass me like this again, do I make myself clear!?”

“Yes Father…” Bridgette softly answered.

“Good, now go and apologize to the Bridgeford Heir. You need to make sure this stain on our reputation is cleared.”

With that final statement, the image in the mirror went completely blank.

“Tch, so lame…”

Bridgette stood from her seat and rushed out of the building, permeating an irritated aura as she exited.

Once she reached the bottom of the steps, the first person to greet her was none other than Ashton Bridgeford. He stood there along with two other third year students, wearing the most smug smile she’d ever seen. Ashton crossed his arms as he patiently waited for Bridgette to finish her approach.

“I’m guessing you heard from your father already?” He said, continuing to grin from ear to ear.

Bridgette rolled her eyes and sighed, clearly hating every second of this encounter.

“So, is there anything you want to say? Little first year…”

Ashton stepped closer, causing his shadow to drape over Bridgette.

“Tch… I.. I apologize for my actions.” She replied with a dry tone.

As soon as she finished her sentence, Bridgette attempted to walk past Ashton, however he immediately stepped in front of her.

“Pfft, did you seriously think I would accept such a pathetic apology?” Ashton said, his chuckle turning incredibly dark.

Before Bridgette could even get a word in, Ashton balled up his fist and punched her in the stomach with all of his strength. The force rippled across her shirt and jacket, blowing a significant hole through her uniform.

She immediately dropped to her knees, coughing and spitting up as she tried to catch her breath. Ashton quickly gripped her long blonde hair and forcefully lifted her head. With zero hesitation he threw multiple hard hitting punches towards her face, viscerally connecting with Bridgette’s eyes and jaw an endless amount of times.

“I don’t care that you’re a Dahlia like me, you’re still a lowly 1st year and you should know your place.”

Ashton punched her one last time, knocking Bridgette down to the ground. Blood trickled off of his fist as he stood over her limp body.

“Ahh, that’s much better. Next time, think really hard about how you approach me.” He said with a cheeky smirk, motioning for his peers to follow him while he started to walk away.

As Bridgette laid there, she slowly lifted her head and began exerting her Core Energy. Even though Ashton had gotten a decent distance away, she was fully prepared to retaliate with every ounce of her power. However, an unfamiliar boy rushed over and crouched in front of her.

“Hey, I don’t think you should do that. Just let it go.” He said with a concerned tone.

Bridgette opened her swollen eyes as much as she could and saw the face of a Siestian boy with glasses.

“Can you stand?” The boy asked as he reached out, taking hold of her hand.

Bridgette quickly snatched her arm away and tried to get up with her own strength. However, as soon as she stood, Bridgette immediately fell back to her knees. Before she could make another attempt, her body was suddenly covered with green petals.

“What are you doing?” She asked, noticing his uptick in Core Energy and the glowing green book in his hand.

“I’m healing you, hold still.”

He turned to a specific page in his Manifest and exerted more of his power. Within a few short moments, Bridgette was completely back to normal. Her pain was gone, as well as the bruises and scrapes that were littered across her face. It seemed as though she hadn’t been in an altercation at all. She looked down at herself and was absolutely perplexed that this boy held such an incredible ability.

‘How is he only in Griffon Class?’

Bridgette glanced over and noticed him holding his hand out while wearing an inviting smile.

“Who are you?” She asked as he helped her stand.

“Ah, my name is Rivell. Rivell Munis. Nice to meet ya!” He replied with an awkward chuckle, adjusting his thin rimmed glasses.

“I see…”

Bridgette brushed her uniform off before looking him up and down with her crystal blue eyes.

“What’s your nam-.”

“Why did you help me? I would’ve been fine…” She interjected, crossing her arms and awaiting a response.

“Oh, uhh.. Well, I saw that you were about to raise your hand towards the 5th ranked student at LaVeda. And judging by your condition at the time, I didn’t think things would go too well for you. Sooo I thought it would be best to stop you.”

“What’re you, some kind of safety monitor or something? I could’ve handled that clown on my own just fine, I’ve done it before…”

Bridgette sighed as she palmed her forehead, clearly irritated by Rivell’s intervention.

“You could’ve handled him? What do you mea-.”

He looked at Bridgette’s ripped jacket and noticed the shiny Dahlia crest pleading for his attention. Rivell’s eyes went wide and he quickly bowed his head to her, showing great respect.

“OH! I’m so sorry!! I had no idea you were a Dahlia yourself, please forgive my blunder!” Rivell exclaimed as he angled his body even lower.

“Huh!? Why the hell are you bowing to me? Stop it you moron!” She said with incredible amounts of disgust on her face, completely put off by his theatrics.

“But, you’re one of the top students at this school. We have to treat you all with the utmost respect!”

“And? Last time I checked, we’re both 1st years.”

“But-”

Rivell stopped bowing his head and wondered why Bridgette was treating him so differently compared to the others within her rank. However, before his curiosity could be entertained, she began walking away.

“Such a weirdo…” Bridgette muttered as she walked past him, wanting nothing more to do with him or this encounter.

Rivell stood there with a blank stare as he watched her get further away, still trying to process everything that had just transpired.

When her final class let out, Carmen gathered her things and entered the hallway. She rounded the corner and saw Elise a short distance ahead of her.

“Hey!” Carmen said happily, quickening her pace to catch up. Elise turned around and greeted her, stepping to the side so they could walk together.

“Are you done for the day?” Elise asked curiously.

“Yup!”

As they continued to chat, Elise unknowingly dropped a pen from her notebook. A nearby student noticed the lost belongings and promptly picked it up.

“Hey, you dropped something.” The boy said, but to his surprise they didn’t hear his voice.

He quickly walked over and firmly placed his hand on Elise’s shoulder, trying to get her to stop.

“Hey, I said you dropped thi-”

Once the student gripped her shoulder and saw her face, he immediately stopped talking. He stared into Elise's wide eyes, wondering why her expression was filled with absolute horror and fear. Moments later, Elise began hyperventilating and her body trembled uncontrollably.

The boy was confused, having no idea what he did wrong to cause her to act in such a way. Wanting to be out of her hair, he grabbed Elise’s hand and placed the pen into it. However, when his hand touched hers, she suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream. Carmen quickly came to the rescue and swatted the boy’s hand away.

“Elise! What’s wrong?!” She asked, desperately trying to calm her down.

Elise continued to scream and tremble, her eyes still wide with fear. Seconds later she took off running down the hall, hugging her body tightly as though trying to escape something.

“What did you do!?" Carmen questioned, her voice filled with anger.

“I didn’t do anything! She dropped her pen and I was just giving it back to her.”

The boy continued to look confused, still not understanding what happened. Carmen snatched the pen from him and quickly sprinted after Elise. While she ran down the hall, Carmen heard many whispers and murmurs from nearby students.

“There goes Elise again, causing a scene over nothing.” , “I told you she was a weirdo, who just randomly screams like that?”, “Not only are her pockets empty, but her head is too!”

Carmen glared at the many students lining the hallway, feeling beyond irritated that they would say such things about her friend.

After a fairly thorough search, she finally found Elise in an empty hallway near a storage closet. She was crouched in the corner, hugging her body tightly as she continued to tremble and shake.

“Elise, it’s me. Are you okay?” Carmen gently asked, not wanting to cause another freakout.

Elise didn’t respond, she just kept her eyes closed while rocking her body back and forth. Carmen reached out to touch her, but once she made the attempt, Elise shifted her body away from Carmen and quickly stood up. Not saying a single word, she swiftly walked away. If anything, Elise seemed irritated that Carmen even tried to console her.

‘What is wrong with her?’

Carmen got to her feet and decided not to follow, feeling that Elise needed to be alone for a bit. When she looked out in Elise's direction, a few thoughts began to flood her mind.

‘Now that I think about it, the same thing happened when that mercenary grabbed her at the sawmill.’

Carmen tried to figure out the reason behind Elise’s outburst, but her thoughts were interrupted as a familiar voice called out to her.

“Hey Carmen, how’ve you been?” Caleb asked with his usual charming cadence. She turned around and greeted him with a smile. They chatted for a moment, until he asked her a curious question.

“Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the winter festival with me. It’s today in Laracia town.”

Carmen was surprised by his request, but she quickly remembered that they were supposed to talk after the midterm. This must’ve been what he was referring to. Carmen looked towards the direction that Elise took and saw that she was nowhere to be seen. After a slight moment of hesitation, she turned her attention back to Caleb.

“Yeah, I’d love to. Want to go now?” She replied with a smile. Caleb felt a wave of relief wash over him as he heard her response. He smiled and agreed to leave, adjusting his winter coat.

On the other side of campus, Elise walked aimlessly through the courtyard with a blank and dead stare. Not paying attention at all to her surroundings, she walked through the grass and ended up near a small pond. The sound of the trickling fountain within the water got louder as she approached closer and closer. Just as she was about to fall directly into the cold water, a young man nearby grabbed and stopped her from stepping in.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going, would ya? You’d catch a cold if you got wet in this weather.” He said with a warm smile.

Elise looked up at the tall young man holding onto her arms. He had short brown hair, light brown eyes, and his uniform donned the Phoenix crest. As she stared into his eyes, she noticed something quite peculiar. Even though he had a firm grip on her, she didn’t feel weirded out by it at all. If anything, she felt great levels of comfort. The young man eventually let go and smiled again.

“Try to be careful next time, alright? See ya around!”

He waved and went on his merry way, whistling a simple tune as he walked away.

‘Who was that?’

As soon as the thought crossed Elise's mind, the cold winter wind rapidly blew chills down her spine. She just now realized that she was outside without her coat on.

“Brrr, let me go back to my dorm. I don’t think I can go to class after what happened.” She muttered, shivering in the bitter cold.

Elise quickly made her way towards to the girls dorms, hugging her body to retain what little body heat she had left.