STORMWEAVER II: Chapter 55 Sneak Peek (Patreon)

Juuuust pretend you didn't see that art. It wasn't ready to show yet lol 😅

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Carmen Laurent, for some reason, was nothing like what Rei had envisioned. Aria was all height and grace, a stellar beauty even among the designed and CAD-assisted looks of the Galens Institute students. Maybe that was why Rei had always just assumed every member of her family would be much the same, tall and elegant and confident in their presence. Then again… it wasn’t like the general didn’t have poise.

It was just more like the titanous conviction of a mountain ruling over its domain.

As the man took started to stand at their entrance, the first thing Rei took note of was that Carmen Laurent was built more like Logan than any other person he’d ever seen. He was a few inches shorter, maybe, but just as broad, and his arms and legs with very clearly thick as stone under his pristine black and golds.. He had a dark grey, clean-cut beard that framed a broad, handsome chin, and his short hair—his cap had been tossed onto the table between the two couches—was much the same other than than a thick slash of designed, deep red that went right along the middle of his head. His eyes, too, were red, though a slightly lighter shade that burned like crimson fire as the general stood straight to take Rei and Aria in, towering over them with gaze firm and hands clasped rigidly behind his back.

That was when Rei started to feel the pressure.

He knew it wasn’t a physical thing. As far as he was aware, there was no Ability that could effect gravity in any kind of way. Just the same, however, Rei could have sworn an immense weight abruptly took hold of him as he met those red eyes, like heavy steel chains getting layer one at a time across his shoulders until his knees wanted to buckle. It was there, and it wasn’t, but either way Rei knew what this was, knew what he was experiencing. There was, after all, one other way that Carmen Laurent differed even from the likes Valera Dent.

For the first time in his life, Rei was standing in front of a Rook-Class User.

From what he understood, Carmen Laurent had graduated Galens a legend, leaving the school an A9 User, and spending the next few decades surpassing every officer and superior he was ever assigned to in both ability and power. Now, 30-something years later, the man stood as one of only ten or so Rook-Class combatants on the front lines, the strongest fighters the ISCM had in the fight.

And difference between Laurent and a Knight-Class like the captain was… palpable.

Dent had always seemed terrifying, in her own right. Even Colonel Guest—who Rei barely noticed now was standing over by the bookshelves to their left—could illicit a visceral fear from him as a mere Pawn-Class, and had done so before. But this… This was an entirely different type of dread. Both Dent and Guest could have lopped Rei’s head from his shoulders before he could blink, it was true.

But Carmen Laurent gave the impression he could have turned him to dust, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and taken a seat back on the couch again before what was left of Rei so much as started settling to the floor.

Oooh, I’m SO not ready for this! Rei screamed in the silence even as he and Aria both snapped into what was probably the sharpest salute either of them had ever thrown up in their lives.

“At ease, Cadets.” It was Guest, mercifully, who spoke first from by the shelves before looking to Maddison. “Chief Assistant Kent, you are dismissed. Thank you for coming in so late to help.”

“Oh—” Kent was behind Rei and Aria now, but he could hear the hesitation in her voice. “Sir, are you sure you don’t need me for—?”

“Maddison.” The colonel’s tone was gentle, but carried an edge this time. “Go home.”

Rei thought he heard the woman swallow, but all she said after that was “Yes, sir,” before taking her leave. The door opened again, then shut with a click, and Rei and Aria were left standing side-by-side before the beast of a man that was Carmen Laurent.

Rei imagined this was what a mouse must have felt like cowering in front of tiger.

And then the tiger spoke.

“Cadet Ward… It’s nice to meet you. I followed your progress a bit at Sectionals. Your fighting is impressive.”

Rei had to physically work not to let his body stiffen as the general’s eyes focused in on him. That was odd… Of the two of them he’d assumed the man would have address Aria—his daughter—first. She was standing not a foot to his right, after all, and yet in the moment it was like the man didn’t even see her.

Pulling his own gaze away with some effort, Rei stared over the man’s shoulder, barely seeing the lights of Castalon through the tall window behind Laurent as he answered.

“Thank you, General! It’s an honor to know you took the time.”

“Seemed like the natural thing to do.” The general’s voice, in congruence to his physical presence, was low and throaty and yet sharp with the confidence of man used to giving orders. “I followed everyone who had the potential to be a thorn in Aria’s side at the tournament. You just ended up being the largest of them, didn’t you?”

Rei had to scramble to figure out how to answer that. Was it a compliment? A slight? A warning? He wasn’t sure, so he went with the safest bet.

“Thank you, sir. Cadet Laurent has consistently bested me here at school, so I knew I had to give it absolutely everything while we were in Ganos.”

There was a twitch, just the smallest movement of Laurent’s right eyebrow, but Rei couldn’t tell if it was irritation or surprise the general was registering. He’d bet on staying humble, and decided a brief compliment of the man’s daughter couldn’t hurt… right?

Abruptly Rei wished the gods and religions of old Earth were still around, just so he could have someone to pray to in that moment.

He didn’t breath easy until the general spoke again.

“Modesty,” the man said with a snort. “Wasn’t expecting that. The way things have been going for you I was waiting for something else out of your mouth, Cadet.” Laurent looked over at the colonel. “I see you’re still doing a fair job of hammering your charges into shape, Rama.”

The casualness with which the general address Rama Guest seemed not only to surprise Rei and Aria—the girl frowning slightly beside him—but the colonel himself.

“Both Ward and Laurent are prime example of the kind of students we take pride in here at the Institute, General…” Guest started tentatively. “Also, we’re in the presence of cadets, sir…”

“Bah…” the general shrugged the man’s comment away. “I already told you, I’m on leave. I’m not here as an officer of the ISCM right now, much less as anyone’s superior.”

Again this took Rei aback. Laurent was on leave? Starting with the pair who were undoubtedly still standing outside, there had to be thirty soldier between them and the elevators.

Before he could contemplate that further, though, the man continued.

“As I said when I arrived, today I am here—” finally and for the first time, the general’s attention shifted to Aria “—as a concerned father.”