The Spiritguard

 I wake up promptly at seven with only a vague recollection of what went on the night before. I know I woke up in the middle of the night due to a bad dream, but I have no memories of what that dream entailed. I blame my nerves; part of me must be on edge, because today is the day my training begins.

 I shower up quickly and don't bother to dry my hair. It's going to turn into a wavy blob of black hair soon enough, with or without me. After that, I rush out and put the few things I'm bringing with me into a bag. I make a note to store my extra clothes, too. One pair of clothes for sleeping in, and one pair that looks 'nice'.

 I remember that I forgot to check out my uniform last night. In fact, I left it on the floor in the living room. I run out to grab it real quick, and then flee back into my room. I unwrap the clothing from the cloak that surrounds it, and I put the cloak into my bag. It's a fairly hot day, so I shouldn't need that cloak for anything.

 Now that the uniform is unwrapped, I can finally see what it looks like, and honestly…it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

 I pull on the pants first; they are a plain, solid, and concrete gray color. They're not tight, like I was expecting them to be, but comfortable, because they aren't baggy either. They're just perfect, I think. They allow for freedom of movement in any direction without crushing anything, and they're not loose enough to get caught on anything.

 Next comes the undershirt, which is a form-fitting elastic gray thing. I'm not too crazy about it, because the sleeves on it go down to almost my elbows but yet it's tight. It's surprisingly breathable, though, which is nice. Almost like a wetsuit. Most other shirts like this would probably be choking me or cutting off the circulation somewhere. And it's form-fitting so it makes me look more toned than I actually am. Now I can show off to the ladies in style. Ha-ha…

 After the undershirt comes the jacket. It is a thick one, different from all of the other years. What's the best way I can explain this thing…

 It's sort of like a trench coat that goes down a little bit lower than my pants in the front, and in the back stretches down to about the end of my knee. The entire thing is a deep violet color, with random stripes of gray in places. It has a collar, and the front buttons up nearly all the way, which hides the undershirt almost completely. It has sleeves that go all the way down to my wrists, but the jacket's sleeves come rolled up to my elbows. Finally, the outfit was wrapped all around a pair of shoes, which are dark gray with hints of purple.

 I look in the mirror and admire my new look. Honestly, it's a lot cooler than I was expecting. A lot cooler, too. It was sort of hot when I woke up, but now I almost feel cold. I wonder how they managed to pull that one off…

 Moments after I'm ready, I hear the fateful knock on my door that means Kael is here. He knows where we keep the spare key outside, and he has had a habit of letting himself in for the past five or so years. He always comes to pick me up, because we all know I'm too lazy to go fetch him.

 I grab my bag and open the door, smiling at my best friend. "All set?" he asks.

 "Of course."

 I grab an apple from the kitchen, at which point I look over at Kael's uniform to see how it fits him.

"Damn, Kael." I can't stop myself. "That looks really tight on you."

"R-really?" he says, looking embarrassed. "I hemmed it a little…I thought it looked nicer like this."

I feel a need to backpedal a bit when he says it was deliberate. "Don't worry," I smile, trying to change the subject. "I, uh…it looks nice. I was just surprised it fit you so well. Cause you're small…yeah, let's just go."

Right after that awkwardness, we begin our seven minute walk to the barracks from my house. As I go along, I briefly consider grabbing a Vitarine elixir, but I know I don't need it. I feel invigorated today, and nothing's going to stop me. I can't wait to show off all of my extreme battle skills…not even Kael knows what I'm fully capable of.

 I know I got beat up by Lance a lot, but that was hand to hand combat. That's not something I'm particularly good at, so he has an unfair advantage there.

 We arrive in no time at all, and before us is the Spiritguard Headquarters. I'm glad I have Kael with me, because after I get here I have no idea where to go. He pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket, nods, and then proceeds into the building.

 "Are we going to go get the wooden swords to practice?" I say excitedly. If Kael were narrating, he'd probably say 'Sigmund says stupidly', but that's just because he doesn't understand the thrills of battle.

 "No, of course not," Kael says stupidly. "We need to check in and then go to our lecture. We don't start combat training until tomorrow, today is just lectures.

 On those words, I become certain that Kael has broken my heart. "What do you mean, today is just lectures? What do you mean we don't start until tomorrow!?" 

 I'm frantic as we present our cards to the male Instructor, and absolutely livid as we take our seats in the classroom. It is a large room, fit for teaching a good hundred or so people. We settle in close to the front, but not too close. Kael and I watch all of the people come into the room as the time draws closer and closer to eight. I notice that one girl, Kavella, walk in and sit in the seat closest to the door. I notice a few other people, too, but I don't really pay attention to them. Kael and I are bad at making friends, so we just sit and let everything flow by.

 At eight, the female instructor shows up and sits at the desk in the front of the room. Once she enters, the male instructor slams the door shut and looks out toward us. I scope the room. There's about sixty students, give or take. Not a bad amount, a lot more than I was expecting. I'll be able to whoop all these people by the time we're done here. I'll be ranked #1 in the class, and everyone will be like..."Sigmund is awesome," I say.

 "What's that?" Kael looks over. I feel my face flush slightly. I didn't realize I said that out loud.

I nearly jump out of my seat as the male instructor at the front of the room's voice suddenly booms throughout the room.

"Alright, kiddies, shut the hell up. It's time to get started."