oppositum [a (maybe) Nikolai Lantsov story] (currently being reviewed)

IX

the morning
in the courtyard

Everyone was still asleep as the instructor shouted out his program for the day. A breeze was making some people shiver, used to the warmth of the fireplace.

"Give me 10 laps of the zone! You have... 2 hours. Whoever doesn't make it by the minute won't eat today!"

As soon as the order was given, everyone took off in a rush to try to make the laps. Nix began to trot, running calmly so as not to exhaust himself. Lýkos approached her and matched her pace.

"At this pace, we'll never make the 10 laps in 2 hours, you know that? "
"It's impossible for untrained kids to succeed. The way they started, the others won't be able to continue at that pace after two laps. And if we normally go in two hours, we won't do more than eight. This exercise is more a way to study our way of thinking. And the sentence of leaving us without food, is rather a test to get used to being hungry, those who have always lived in luxury. Because when we go on a mission, we won't especially have time to eat our fill."
"It's true that it seems more logical..."

Lýkos and Nix made their 10 laps in 3 hours and arrived first in the group. Exhausted and hungry, they lay down in the sand, catching their breath. The instructor lifted them up and ruffled their hair, congratulating them and urging them to shower and rest before the next exercise.
Which they did. Once clean, they returned to the courtyard to wait for the others and stretch their muscles. Nix's stomach began to growl, demanding food. An hour later, the rest of the group had arrived and the instructor didn't give them time to catch their breath as he announced the next exercise, which was a shooting exercise with every weapon possible.

"Come on! Come on, you bums! We won't stop until you all reach the center of the target! Think of them as Grishas!"

We don't know if it was the instructor's words that motivated the group, but the next shots were pretty good.
They continued until the target was no longer visible. Everyone went back to their rooms for a good night's sleep.

two years later (Nix's 14)

Time passed, and as Nix and Lýkos spent more and more days together, they learned to rely on each other. Their class was almost finished training and they only had two tests left. One with their isenulf and Hringkälla. The journey to where the isenulf are raised had begun and the group of young people were walking happily through the snow.

"Do you think you will be chosen to have one Nix? I heard our instructor say that there are not enough for everyone this year..."
"If I don't get one, that's okay... but I admit I'd like it! What about you?"
"Having one would remind me of my home... on my parents' farm we have dogs to guard the cattle..."

Nix and Lýkos continued to discuss the isenulf all the way. When they arrived at the breeding place, they were greeted by a young woman who led them into a pen and let a dozen cubs out. The children approached to caress or play with a cub. Lýkos found himself followed by an isenulf, bigger than the others, who nibbled at his ankles to get his attention. Nix tried to approach a cub, but they all ran away from her like the plague, yelping in fear. A groan of pain was heard and the group turned to Nix with the same movement.
Her hand had a bite mark and a few drops of blood fell into the snow, which turned scarlet. An expression of defeat was painted on her face. Lýkos approached his friend, crouched beside her and took her bitten hand in his and wiped away a tear of shame that had escaped from Nix's eyes.

"Is everything all right? No, it's obvious... Your hand doesn't hurt too much?"

Nix walled himself off into silence and stared at the ground, his eyes lost in a blur.

'It's all because I'm Grisha... They must sense it and think I'm an enemy... I am unworthy to live... to share this sacred moment with them...'

A religious silence had fallen over the room and the only sound that could be heard was Nix's slight sniffles. Then suddenly, a laugh broke the atmosphere. Everyone, except Nix, turned their gaze to the source of the laughter. It was Leo, the boy who had provoked Nix the first night. He was laughing so hard that tears were escaping from his eyes. Everyone looked at him in amazement, not seeing why he was laughing so hard.

"By Djel! It's so funny! The princess is not chosen, and even scares the isenulfs! When I think that..."

He began to imitate Nix's voice.

"If I don't have one, that's okay... but I admit I'd like to!"

He straightened up and turned his gaze to Lýkos, an evil smile on his face.

"Anyway, what's the point of having an isenulf, you already have a dog following you around, Lýkos is your whore, my dear highness."

Nix jumped on him, tackled him to the ground and started to pour all his hatred on him, hitting him so many times that he fainted and blood spurted out on Nix and into the snow. No one dared to approach for fear of being hit. Even though Leo did not move, Nix continued to hit him, her eyes filled with rage. As if in a trance, the cries of her classmates asking her to stop did not reach her. Everything around her was black and blurry and the only thing she could see was Leo's body.

Suddenly, something touched Nix's leg, making the world around her visible, audible. She turned to face the thing that had snapped her out of her trance, ready to strike, and found herself facing a cub. One she had never seen before. A gray isenulf, with only three legs. Nix detached herself from Leo's body and took the cub in her arms, to examine it more closely. The cub yelped and, without warning, licked Nix's face. She laughed, buried her head in the wolf's fur, and began to cry, as if the gravity of her actions were falling on her.