The Great

“Evay, wake up, we have classes in 10 minutes, Aurora and Lila woke us up but I think we both fell back asleep—we have to go now!” Geon practically inhaled a piece of toast and threw me an apple before sprinting out the door. I woke up and chased Geon out the door.I ran as fast as I could but Geon just flew to class–leaving me in the dust. Surprisingly, not many blueprints granted flight and so Geon was one of the few students that could get anywhere he wanted at top speeds.

I saw him glide through the air and descend in front of our combat-class building. It was made of white marble and looked pretty much like a miniature acceptance hall. I was still a good distance away and sprinted my way to the front doors. I reached the entrance halls and burst into the building. There were several hallways with steel rails and large windows on the sides of the walls. I raced to find my classroom and found Geon as well as Lila and Aurora–who were waving at me. I raced to their side and bent down to catch my breath.

“Hey, you could’ve just taken the horses, you know that right?” Lila looked at me with a half concerned and half amused look. I looked at Geon accusingly and he gave me a shrug,

“Hey man don’t blame me! I didn’t tell you about those since uh…..I forgot. Flying everywhere is much faster and I haven’t used a chariot or a horse in like…..10 years,” we all sighed a little and finally walked into the classroom.

It was surprisingly spacious—no, it was somehow absolutely huge on the inside. It looked like a fairly modest building from the outside but it was shaped like a stadium on the inside. The seating rows seemed to never stop rising and the oval-shaped-sparring field had white marble flooring as well as a moat of water surrounding its very edges. Everyone looked awestruck as several students were whispering excitedly to each other while we all took our seats in the stands. What type of liquor technology was used to make this reality bending building? The professor for the class waltzed in.

I heard some kids whisper to each other as the Professor walked into the middle of the sparring arena, “Did you hear about him? He was an ex-elite warrior trained to accompany the emperor on travels and missions.” Huh, I guess that makes sense.

The Professor looked at us with a neutral expression and spoke in a calm and serious voice, “My name is Professor Vylen you can refer to me as whatever you see fit,” based on his overall demeanor though, I knew no one was going to abuse that freedom. “Class will start today and your final exam will be at the end of the year where sparring will count for scoring and scouting. Now to begin the first day of class whoever doesn’t lose a match will get to skip all classes for the rest of the day,” everyone looked confused.

The Professor was quite a young man. He had slightly wavy blonde hair that rose up a little on top of his head. He also had bangs which had a small part on the right side of his head–along with stormy gray eyes to accompany his well chiseled face. He was quite tall and slim but looked to be quite muscular under all of his formal robes. He had a face that suggested he was bored but it also looked like he was in a state of dead calm. I didn’t know which one it was….

There’s gotta be a catch right? But I was also surprised that we were just jumping into it on the first day. Especially me, since I was probably going to get beat to a pulp…….

Before we could fully process what he had just said I saw a student get transported down to the arena in the blink of an eye. He looked confused and stared wide eyed as another student was transported in front of him just as fast. I read the name tag on his battle vest.

The boy’s name was Deven, of house Piten. He was on the shorter side with a fairly athletic build and had messy brown hair with freckles on his face. He eyed up his opponent–who everyone was all too familiar with. His opponent was the boy with the giant black sword from opening night. He looked serious and his huge muscles popped through his uniform. He literally stood head and shoulders over everyone and his huge frame created a shadow that swallowed Deven whole. I guess the suspension was pretty short. He looked more annoyed than anything as he faced Deven who on the contrary, looked slightly nervous.

“The arena has been made so that a liquor screen is cast over all combatants that step foot on the floor,” I saw a shimmer of dark red glow spread around the bodies of the two boys. “This will let through a safe amount of damage and pain, but stop any critical attacks. It will glow purple when you’ve taken enough damage—you will have lost if that is the case. Good luck and don’t die. Go,” I saw him teleport out of the way and onto a stadium seat in the very front row.

“Pay attention class, this will get interesting,” I saw the dark haired, sword-boy raise his hand out into the air. A black bolt of lightning crackled and soared into his outstretched as a flash of black energy materialized into his signature sword. He looked at Deven with a menacing glare as a hush fell airing the arena.

I looked in anticipation for the battle to start. Deven locked in and looked fully focused on the battle at hand. He remained calm and waited for Taran to strike.

“Mistake number one,” I heard Professor Vylen speak in a slow and deadly, but calm, voice. “For Mr.Piten here defense is the worst option against someone who will most likely use heavy level attacks for all of his strikes,” I saw Taran jump forward and slam his blade into the ground.

Deven dodged it successfully but debris launched off the ground and Taran quickly hit them all while they were suspended in the air. The debris pieces were launched toward Deven and he jumped. He slipped his head to the left, narrowly dodging a marble boulder flying into his face. His luck didn’t last long though as a second piece hit him square in the shoulder and once in the eye before he crashed down onto the ground. I saw Lila wince and even Geon and Aurora cringed slightly. Deven got up quickly, closing one eye he suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. Taran looked puzzled as his sword crashed into the ground. Dust rose up and debris flew to the outer edges of the arena. I saw Deven in the air above Taran and he flew down into a flip—bringing his leg all the way up to his ear and kicking down hard on top of Taran’s head. The ground underneath Taran cracked and a crater was pounded into the arena floor.

We saw the dust settle and I let out a quiet gasp. Taran stood there unfazed and Deven was holding his right leg—which had cuts and blood running all over it. His pants were in tatters and there were burn marks on his flesh. But I saw Deven’s foot connect onto Taran—how did Taran get hurt?

“I sent you all roster sheets and a clear description of all the weaknesses, strengths, and skill sets of your classmates but almost none of you opened it over the long holiday,” Professor Vylen talked to us while still facing the battle, “If you want to be great don’t sit on your asses all summer and do some prep work,” I vaguely remembered a roster coming in but Aurora was the only one that actually read it.

She looked over at us and started whispering, “Taran’s skill set essentially allows him to use his enemy’s force against them. Any damage he absorbs he can store it and turn it into a form of power only he can produce–that’s what his weird colored lighting represents. If an attack is too strong he can’t absorb it but it looks like Deven’s power was mangable for him.”

Deven prepared himself but Taran flew forwards and jammed the hilt of his sword into Deven’s ribs. He smacked him with the side of his blade and sent Deven flying toward the center of the arena. Taran flew upwards and pointed his sword toward the sky. Black lighting streaked towards it and he aimed it directly at Deven who stood in the middle of the giant crater in the arena floor. A beam of black lighting shot it’s way towards Deven and I saw him stare at it with wide eyes. He flashed and suddenly disappeared to the edge of the arena and bent down to catch his breath.

Aurora gave us more details as everyone was watching closely in the stands, “Deven’s skill allows him to apparate at will. Although he uses a lot of his own energy when teleporting so he usually saves it for when he needs it.”

I saw Taran leap towards Deven and Deven finally made his move. He leapt up and met Taran in the air where he threw one roundhouse kick, which was blocked. He turned his body to the right using the momentum of his kick and spun his leg around his back shoulder.

The spinning hook kick was successful as his foot hit Taran in the jaw—which sent him launching towards the left. Deven quickly teleported towards the flying Taran and intercepted him with another kick. He then teleported again, intercepting Deven and sending him flying with another punch to the stomach. Taran was caught in an endless loop of getting launched and launched over again by harsh attacks. Deven’s face was full of concentration as he kept Taran in the air and teleported under him—kicking his back to send him flying up.Taran couldn’t do anything as his body was launched to the sky and Deven quickly teleported up above him, using both of his fist to strike down upon Taran—sending him crashing into the surface of the arena. Taran’s body bounced as he coughed and spit blood. There was a blinding flash of light as Deven traveled even higher into the air.

“Sorry, but I’m not really good at taking losses,” Deven spoke in a calm voice as he teleported forwards while diving down, which somehow increased his speed. He pulled his fist back and soared towards the ground. Taran opened his eyes and a look of panic rose on his face as he held up both his hands to block the attack. It wasn’t enough. Deven flew like a torpedo while teleporting downwards constantly and he threw his punch just as he reached Taran. Deven’s punch connected and huge gusts of wind and debris flew into the stands. Professor Vylen raised one finger and all of it was transported out of harm's way. The dust and wind still zoomed at us as I raised my hands over my face to stop my head from being blown off.

We all began to look in excitement as we waited for the outcome of the battle. There’s no way that Taran could take that right?

I looked closely as I tried to make out shady figures through the clouds of dust, “No way,” Lila quietly whispered in disbelief as we saw Deven’s shocked expression. Both of Taran’s arms were broken and bloody, his clothes were torn and an absolute mess, but he was alive.

Taran’s right cheek was gashed and cut and blood ran down his face. But he was still awake.

And worst of all, he had all that stored up damage at his disposal.

“You probably wanted to finish it with your strongest attacks early—since you can’t let me keep taking damage. But I knew that you would think like that and I honestly just hoped I could tank your hits. It was pretty hard but you ain’t the toughest guy I’ve ever taken a hit against,” Taran’s gruff voice was followed by an explosion of black lightning which sent Deven flying away.

Deven landed on his back when Taran came flying out of the smoke—coated in an armor made of pure black energy in the form of rigid individual plates. His chest plate fit his muscular body and his legs were coated with armor that almost seemed to be made of hundreds of knife-like black blades. His helmet was a simple but crude face mask that only allowed his eyes to be seen with purple blades coming down its side and along the back of his head—like dangerous locks of hair. He leapt toward and threw his giant blade at Deven. It spun and soared through the air as it hit Deven and sank deep into his chest. He coughed up blood and his eyes went wide with shock and pain. Taran landed with a resounding crash and walked towards Deven. Everyone felt it in the arena. A deep pressure in the air could be felt as the temperature seemed to drop to zero. Sweat flowed down the faces of all the students and it was hard for me to breathe. My mouth felt dry and I could see several hands shaking.

I looked over at Lila and Aurora who were calmer than the others but still had a look of fear on their faces. But I could still feel it fully. It was a familiar feeling, the feeling of pure fear. A lot of people here weren’t used to it. They’ve all had some close calls with death and injuries since they had been training to become a warrior from their youths but the fear of death was a hard feeling to come by. Not for me though…..it was a feeling I had felt my entire life.

“You’re a sore loser and I can respect that, but in the end I want to win too,” the invisible red shimmer around Deven finally glowed a bright purple. He had lost.

Professor Vylen flicked his hand and Taran called back his blade. Deven arrived laying on his back in the front row. Everyone went flocking around him as we saw a huge vertical gash in his chest. Professor Vylen took a small white flower with a purple line going down its stem and fed it to Deven, “This is the closest thing we have to the original liquor plant found over 5000 years ago. Science has made it possible for it to exist. It can’t produce liquor but it contains a liquor-like substance that has life-giving properties. It will heal almost all injuries assuming they aren’t too terrible,” Deven’s wound began to close almost instantly and his scars began to go away. He was still asleep but he was going to be alright.

Well this isn’t very encouraging to anyone who’s up next. Every single student looked slightly shaken up. I assumed all of them had experienced hard sparring sessions before but it was probably the first time someone had been beat up this badly. They all looked nervous, twiddling their thumbs, tapping their feet, and looking absently at their surroundings. Everyone had a mix of dread and anxiety on their face—everyone but Geon. He seemed relaxed–in fact, he looked kind of……bored. He let you a huge yawn as he tossed a paper wad into the back of my head. I looked at him and he gave me a smile. Professor Vylen looked directly at Geon and tossed Taran another one of those white leaves. Taran ate it and his body seemed to be restored to full strength.

“My class goes in a winner takes all format. Winner stays until someone gets knocked off,” Professor Vylen pointed at Geon which caused all eyes to look at him. “You look awfully calm Mr.Leventen, please join us for the next match.”