Chapter 5

Nyx

Chapter 5

            Nyx’s eyes snapped open. It was morning and that meant she only had a few more hours to go till she met up with the smith. She tossed the covers back and launched from her bed, smacking the off button on the alarm clock on her way down. The morning passed by in a whirlwind, as she rushed through taking her shower, dressing and yelling at her roommates to wake up.

            They grumbled when they found out they still had another hour to sleep in before classes, and tried to go back to sleep. Nyx was having none of that, and three thumps were heard as the girl pulled each of her roommates out of their beds.

            Lyric climbed back into her bed and threw one of her many pillows at Nyx, who streaked to the side, avoiding it. “Let me sleep… too early.” Nyx stuck her tongue out at her disheveled roommates and vanished out the open door, on her way to get breakfast.

            Autumn and Whise were puzzled by Nyx’s actions. It was as if the shy girl they had come to know had vanished and was replaced by someone entirely different. No longer was she staying quiet around other people, or trying to stay out of sight. At one point during the day, she became engaged in a furious argument with a professor who was explaining the differences in human and faunus cultures.        

            “Does Nyx seem… off to you?” Autumn asked Whise while the girl in question continued to argue with the professor.

            “Yes. Look at her!” Whise was staring at Nyx.

            “I know. I have never seen her argue with… well, anyone!” At this point, the professor was trying to find a way out of the conversation, clearly on the losing end.

            “No not that. I didn’t have to pester her to let her hair down today. She just did it on her own. It took me months, MONTHS, to convince her to do that for a single day!”

            “Is fashion the only thing you ever think about?”

            Whise raised her chin at Autumn. “No! I think about other stuff also… sometimes.”

            The professor had finally given up and admitted that Nyx was correct, and offered an apology to the class. Nyx sat down, a self-satisfied smile on her face. She really didn’t like this professor; he was the same one from the other day when Taris had questioned him about Faunus attendance at their school.         

            Whise and Autumn watched Nyx carefully for the rest of the day, noticing that while she would still act like her usual self, she was acting odd more and more. They also noticed that she was constantly fidgeting. She was restless, and the two girls had no idea why.

            Their final class was a study period, and while Autumn and Lyric spent the time catching up on assigned readings, Nyx spent her time talking about tumbling and flipping with Lyric. Autumn had finally had enough.

            “Nyx, what has gotten into you today?” Autumn asked Nyx while she was walking in circles in a handstand.

            “What do you mean?” Nyx asked, while balancing on one hand, then the other.

            “What do I mean? You’re doing a handstand! In middle of study period! You’re usually so quiet and reserved, and now it’s like you are someone else.” Nyx rolled out of the handstand and back to her feet.

            “Um... I’m just having a good day?” Nyx began to worry. She had totally let her disguise slip today… but in all honestly, she really didn’t care. It felt nice to be herself for once.

            “Uh huh…” Autumn wasn’t buying it at all. Just then the bell decided to ring, signaling an end to classes for the day. “Nyx, is something going on? You seem-”

            “Sorry gotta go bye!” Nyx streaked from the room, leaving Autumn standing there blinking in the dust kicked up by her speedy exit.

            Nyx zoomed through the school corridors, past startled students and confused teachers. At one point she almost knocked over the head master, who hollered after her. She didn’t care though. She was too busy reveling in her speed, enjoying the movement of the wind through her hair as her body ran off the energy of her excitement.

            Out the front doors she ran, across the grounds and through the castle gates. Nyx wasn’t even in the forest before she was pulling her sweater off, spreading her wings as the first tree branches passed overhead, and launching into the air mere seconds later.

            The fall leaves rustled from the drafts kicked up from her wings, as she wove through the forest at a breakneck pace. On and on she flew, ever accelerating as she pushed her body further and further, faster and faster. Nyx streaked around trees, spinning to avoid branches, diving and rising to avoid parts of the canopy as her hair streamed behind her like a golden river.

            Excitement fluttered in Nyx’s stomach as she dreamed of using the wing blades. She wondered if he could make them to match the white of her feathers. They looked so good in his dark fea- WHAM!!!

            Something big and hairy came out of nowhere and slammed the Faunus right into the forest floor. She slid along the undergrowth, scraping up her face, hands and arms. She laid there dazed, silently pleading for the air to go back into her lungs. A roar sounded behind her and she nervously peered over her shoulder. There, right behind her was… nothing.

            Nyx’s training took over as she scrambled forward and struggled back to her feet. Another rumble shook the forest floor as a massive creature landed into the spot she had occupied a second earlier. Nyx took a few more steps away, drawing her mismatched daggers in the process.

            The creature that stood before her was known as an Ursa, a massive bear with glowing red eyes, and a partial exoskeleton on the upper half of its body. The creature stood upon its hind legs, raising its forelegs in a threatening display.

            A smile grew on Nyx’s face. This would be a challenging fight… but Nyx loved challenges. The Ursa dropped back to all fours and charged Nyx, its roar echoing through the forest. Nyx cartwheeled to the side at the last moment, and then launched herself forward with her wings, and passing under the Ursa. As the unprotected hind legs passed by her, she sliced at the monster’s tendons. One dagger failed to sink past the thick fur, but the other still had some bite left in the old metal, and savagely cut through the thick tendon.

            The Ursa howled in pain, stumbling sideways, and Nyx pressed the attack. The goal to fighting an Ursa was to be quick and to dodge. Sure some of the larger fighters could block one of the heavy attacks launched by the bear, but Nyx’s twin daggers were ill suited for the task.

            The Ursa charged after her, its hind leg dragging behind it. Nyx streaked to the side and aimed her dagger at its throat. The beast twisted at the last second, and her dagger shattered in her hand as it hit the reinforced exoskeleton. Nyx looked down at her hand dumbfounded; blood was streaming out of several deep gorges from where her dagger had shattered in her grasp. The Ursa took this opportunity to press the attack. It swung one of its massive paws, backhanding Nyx across the clearing. Nyx slammed hard into an old pine tree, and slid down to her knees, an explosion of spots dancing in front of her eyes.

            The monster stalked forward, snarling, and raised its foreleg for a final strike. Time seemed to slow as the razor sharp claws accelerated towards her crumpled body. Nyx gathered her last ounce of strength and threw her body forward. The claws passed inches over her head, lodging themselves in the tree, and in one fluid motion, Nyx rolled to her feet and plunged her remaining dagger into the exposed eye of the lumbering giant.

            The beast released one last roar, before crumpling to the ground, its body going silent and still. Nyx collapsed next to the beast, panting and grinning in triumph. She held up her hand and inspected it. The wound was worse than she had previously feared; the cuts were deep and filled with dirt. Worse still, they were leaking blood at an alarming rate. Nyx cut a strip of cloth from her sweater and wrapped it tight around her hand, wincing in pain.

            Nyx sighed. She was going to be late. She gathered her things and launched into the air, flying towards the city. Her pace was far slower this time, as she felt a haze falling over her mind.