Ganon and Lisa trotted down the small road leading away from the town. Eldon and the rest of the students followed close behind. For about half an hour, the small group silently went down the path. Eventually, the open grounds gave way to the forest that Eldon and his classmates had entered before to pick herbs. Eldon grew puzzled.

Wasn’t the Valis Institute somewhere in the northwest? Why are we going east?

The recruiters stopped right outside the forest, and turned around. The students looked at them, expecting something.

“We’re about to enter the forest now.” Ganon said. “I know that you all have come here before, but this time, we’re going a little bit deeper. Be careful, and stick together. Beasts do not usually come near to the fringes of the forest, but we might encounter a few things, so be prepared! Do not worry too much. Lisa and I should be more than enough to handle whatever might come for us in the forest.” Ganon paused. “Any questions?” Eldon raised a hand, and Ganon nodded at him.

“Sir, why are we going into the forest?” Eldon asked. “I thought that the Valis Institute is in the northwest direction.”

“The distance between Aramore and the Valis Institute is about a thousand miles.” Ganon replied. Some of the students gasped. “Normally, for people like Lisa and I, a thousand miles is not too much of a problem. We can probably reach the Valis Institute in a few days if we wanted. However, how can I possibly bring all of you along? If we were to walk, it would probably take about a month, not accounting for any of the potential dangers and obstacles we may meet. It would be foolish, and some of you may even perish on the way.” The faces of some of the students couldn’t help but grow pale. Brien had an unpleasant expression on his face, as he couldn’t even imagine potentially not even being able to sleep on a bed for a month.

Nikolas, another one of Eldon’s classmates, piped up. “That still doesn’t explain why we are going into the forest, sir.”

“I was just about to explain.” Ganon smiled. Cheeky kid. With a slight movement of his hands, Ganon procured a fist sized azure stone out of thin air. “This, students, is a magic power absorption stone. It will be able to absorb large amounts of magic power much faster than I can from its surroundings and allow me to cast a teleportation spell.” Excited murmurs broke out. Teleportation? To be able to instantaneously travel from Aramore to Valis Institute? Although the students had a basic knowledge of magicians and swordsmen and learned about teleportation in school, they did not expect that they would have the chance to teleport so quickly.

Such a spell would probably require massive amounts of energy, Eldon thought.

“Usually, I have a few fully charged absorption stones on me. However, I had already used them up for other matters, and neglected to charge them up. Forgive this old man. If I were to attempt to teleport all of you now with my inner magic power, I would most likely become exhausted and fail.”

“You don’t look that old, sir.” Alera (Author’s note: Decided not to make her a forgotten one liner side character.) noted.

Ganon’s eyes gleamed. “I don’t? Believe me, I am older than I appear to be. Anyway, the reason we have to go into the forest is because the density of magic power is much greater than that of the surrounding areas. It would take days if I started absorbing in the town, and it could potentially even attract some magical beasts. Absorption stones are delicious and valuable to most minor races. As a result, we may attract a few creatures, but there shouldn’t be anything major. The edges of the forest only have a slightly higher density of magic energy than the outside, so we will trek in a little bit deeper to accumulate magic power faster.” A flash of light sparked from Ganon’s hands and entered the stone. “I’ve activated the absorption of the stone. Let us go.” With that, the small group entered the forest.

____________________________________________________________________________

Eldon saw some familiar places as they walked on the increasingly narrow path in the forest. A few notable gnarly trees stood out to him, and he recognized a small gap under one of the trees, which was surprisingly comfortable to sit on to answer nature’s call. He saw the giant rock on the left side of the path, which Mrs. Fern had warned her students not to lose sight of while they were searching for herbs. As long as they could see the rock, then they should have been safe. Eldon kept looking back a while after they passed the rock, until it was obscured by the branches and foliage of the trees.

Ganon glanced at the stone, which was glowing with a dim but growing blue light. He saw a clearing on the right path of the forest. “The density here is good enough. Let us wait for the stone to finish charging in that clearing. I need to control and sync with the energy.” Eldon and the others waded through the knee high grass. Suddenly, Eldon felt something land on his leg. It was a small black beetle, slowly making its way up Eldon’s pants. Feeling a bit tingly, Eldon gently picked it up and placed it on a nearby tree. The group reached the clearing.

“Now, it’ll take only a few minutes or so until the stone has gathered enough magic energy for us to teleport. When I finish the teleportation casting, you MUST be in the spell.” Eldon, Brien, and Angus went to sit on a nearby log.

“Weather’s pretty good today. Thought it was going to rain before, but seems like not.” Brien picked up a fallen branch on the ground and began to strip off the smaller branches protruding off of it.

“This calls for a quick snack. You guys want any?” Angus said, rummaging through his giant bag.

“No thanks.” “I’m good.”

Angus shrugged. “Suit yourselves.” He took out a shiny red apple, and held it up to the light. “Little bit bruised.” Opening his mouth, he took a giant bite, taking a third out of the apple in one go. Eldon sat quietly on the log, watching Ganon concentrating on the absorption stone. He could hear Angus’s chewing. Lisa was next to Ganon, using her eyes to observe the area. Her head suddenly stopped in mid movement and looked to her right.

“Goblins!” Ganon barked.

A sudden scream pierced into Eldon’s ear. He jumped up, his heart pumping. Fearing for the worst, he began to run. It was Karis who let out the scream. About fifteen or so goblins had emerged behind Serene’s group, and it was thanks to Alera’s keen hearing that the girls hastily sprinted away from the place where they were relaxing before. However, Karis had stumbled and fell, and she was unable to get up.

The ugly green creatures closed on to her, making guttural sounds in whatever crude language they spoke. While goblins were smaller than human adults, they were a bit larger than the average thirteen year old. One of them gave Karis a disgusting grin, and raised a crudely made club.

“No!” Serene wailed.

Eldon was already running towards Karis with Nikolas and Brien close behind, but he was not going to make it in time. Angus let out a mighty bellow, throwing his half eaten apple fiercely towards the attacking goblin’s head.

However, before the apple reached the goblin, the goblin suddenly froze, and loosened its grip on the club. It fell and hit Karis on the shoulder, jarring her collarbone. A fine line had appeared horizontally across the goblin’s stomach. Blood began to spurt out of the cut, spraying Karis, causing her to scream again. The apple then reached its target, causing the now dead goblin’s torso to crumple sideways, twitching. The bottom half of the body was still standing limply, and the inner organs of the goblin could be easily seen in gory detail. Alera gagged, and Eldon could hear Nikolas throwing up behind him. The rest of the goblins jumped back, with a trace of fear on their faces. Eldon didn’t pay attention to the corpse and only had eyes on Karis. Groaning a bit from the exertion, he lifted the stunned Karis by her armpits. Brien hurriedly rushed from behind, assisting him. They glanced up and saw Lisa, with pure bloodlust radiating from her. She was wielding her gigantic claymore, whose tip dripped red with the goblin’s blood. Although the bloodlust wasn’t directed at them but at the goblins, Eldon and Brien couldn’t help but shiver a little.

“They must’ve been attracted by the concentration of magic energy from the stone!” Ganon shouted, slapping his head with the hand that didn’t hold the stone.

He cursed inwardly. The dense concentration of the forest makes it difficult for me to sense the fluctuations of energy within living beings. Only when the goblins came close enough was he able to sense their presence. I’m ashamed to call myself a Magic Adept. Ganon sighed, knowing that his mentor would punish him for endangering the students.

“Try not to spill any more blood if you can help it, Lisa! Combined with the energy in the stone, it's a perfect buffet for many magical beasts!” While Lisa and Ganon could easily fend for themselves, they still had the students to look after. Ganon was already beginning to cast the teleportation spell, not waiting for the energy in the stone to charge up enough for the spell. It’ll continue to absorb anyway. Time to use my own reserves too. A powerful surge of magic energy entered Ganon’s body from the stone. He began to glow with a reddish light.

“I know, Ganon. Everyone, huddle near Ganon!” Lisa said. “I’ll hold back the goblins.” Although the goblins instinctively knew that they were no match for Lisa, the allure of the absorption stone was too great. However, whenever a goblin snarled and stepped forward, Lisa would simply increase her aura, sending the creature scampering back. Eldon and Brien quickly carried Karis over to Ganon, with Alera and Serene almost in hysteria, seeing their friend covered in blood. Angus took out a few pieces of cloth from his bag, and they began to quickly wipe off the blood.

“Karis! Are you okay!” Eldon said, with worry all over his face. Karis shook her head and looked up.

“I think I’m fine now. That was quite unexpected.” Karis replied, her voice quavering a bit. “Thank you, Eldon, for saving me.”

Eldon couldn’t help but blush.

“No, you should be thanking Lisa. I wouldn’t have been able to reach you in time.” Eldon spoke softly.

Karis smiled a little. “It doesn’t matter.” She winced a little. Eldon knelt on his knees, his eyes full of concern. “I think I injured my ankle, and my shoulder hurts whenever I try to move.”

“Don’t worry, Karis.” Ganon said, as magic energy swirled around him. “We’ll get you healed in no time soon.” Suddenly, a spell formation formed under Ganon’s feet, and grew slowly to encompass the students. “Lisa, let’s go!”

Lisa gave another glare at the goblins, and dashed towards the group. She entered the spell, with the goblins howling behind, scrambling after her. However, Ganon had not yet completed the spell. One of the quicker goblins, snarling, attempted to jump into the formation, wildly waving his club. Angus made a fist, twisted his powerful body, and smashed it hard against the goblin’s face, knocking out some of its teeth and the goblin itself.

“Not bad.” Lisa commented.

“Prepare yourselves!” Ganon cried. A powerful beam of light emerged from the formation, shooting up towards the heavens. The goblins skidded to a halt, averting their eyes from the blinding light. When they returned to their senses, the only thing that was there was the slightly scorched earth where the group had been standing on.

____________________________________________________________________________

When Ganon completed the spell, Eldon felt as if his soul was loosely attached to his body. He felt incomparably light, and the only thing he could sense/see was pure whiteness. He faintly felt others around him, most likely the other members of his group. The whiteness began to fade in mere milliseconds, and before Eldon could even think, he found himself standing on the ground again, this time on a luxurious carpet.

____________________________________________________________________________

Eldon attempted to orient himself, feeling slightly dizzy from the spell. After a few seconds, he recovered. A warm voice entered into his ears.

“Welcome, children of Aramore, to the Valis Institute.” Looking up, Eldon saw a woman standing, looking to be around her 50s. Just from her voice and appearance, Eldon thought she was an older version of Mrs. Fern. Lisa bowed to the woman. “Enough with the formalities, Lisa.” The woman said, smiling. The woman sweeped her eyes over the group, and saw Karis, lying on the floor, still splattered with some of the goblin’s blood. “Good heavens!” The woman turned on to Ganon, glaring fiercely at him. Ganon shrank back; it was obvious that he feared this woman. “Explain yourself this instant, Ganon Stark! How did the poor girl end up like this!”

Ganon whimpered. “Goblins attacked us when I was casting the spell. I couldn’t-”

“NO EXCUSES!” The woman roared. Eldon changed his mind; Mrs. Fern never had such a fierce expression on her face. “GOBLINS? Mere goblins?!?!?” Ganon looked down.

“Well sis, you told me to hurry-”

“WHAT?”

“...Nothing.”

“I will discuss this later with you.” Slowly, the woman drew back, composing herself. Ganon breathed a sigh of relief. She walked up to Karis, who flinched a little. The woman chuckled. “Don’t worry, girl. I’m only like that to my idiotic little brother.” A soft light radiated from her hands. She placed a hand on Karis’s right shoulder and ankle, without anyone even telling her where Karis was injured.

She must be a powerful light magician. Eldon mused. Light magic was the most powerful in healing spells. Sure enough, Karis was standing, her injuries completely healed.

“Let’s clean you up also.” The woman pointed a finger at Karis, and the blood slowly disintegrated into nothing. Karis was elated.

“Thank you, Miss…?”

“Carolina.”

She looked at the rest of the group. There were eight of them: Eldon, Angus, Brien, Nikolas, Serene, Karis, Alera, and Rosaline. “It seems like there are quite a few of you this year. Very good.” She smiled. “This room is specially meant for teleportation, as you can see by the markings on the floor. It makes sure that you don’t accidentally teleport into something.” She looked her her brother. “How are their aptitudes?”

Ganon told her their aptitudes, having memorized them all. There was a surprised look on her face when she heard about Serene’s and Brien’s aptitudes, and she too was stunned by Eldon’s. After Ganon finished speaking, she clasped her hands together. “Looks like we have quite a few with potential this year! In the Valis Institute, our housing facilities are usually separated by wherever you come from, so you’ll meet some familiar and unfamiliar faces soon. Once you exit this room, the male’s living quarters are on the right, and the female’s are on the left. You all are fairly early, which is something my brother got right. The entrance ceremony takes place tomorrow.” She paused, glancing out of the door. “Sorry for the briefness of our meeting, but I have rather urgent matters to attend to with Lisa and Ganon. I’m sure your fellow townsfolk will be glad to get you acquainted with the school’s surroundings. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Carolina glanced at Lisa and Ganon, and then went out the door. They followed. Ganon looked back.

“If you guys have any problems or anything, just ask your seniors and they’ll get you in touch with me.” With that, he exited the room.

…

“Well, that wasn’t as grand as I expected.” Brien stated.

“There’s an entrance ceremony tomorrow, so I guess that’ll be pretty grand.” Rosaline added.

“Let’s go find some rooms first, alright guys?” Serene said. Everybody agreed, so they walked out of the room and into a hallway. Directly across from the teleportation room was an open hallway with a set of marble stairs leading down to what seemed to be a gigantic living room, with multiple chairs and tables. It was the first floor of the building. There was even an extremely large open space in the room where there was a large raised platform. On each floor, there were two large windows that showed a bright view of the outside. Even further across the living room was the entrance of their building. They saw the door close just as Ganon left.

“Wow,” Angus whistled. “This place is pretty nice!” Eldon couldn’t help but agree. The living room itself was already larger than Eldon’s house. Currently, there was no one in the living room. Everyone felt eager and couldn’t wait to explore the Valis Institute, clearly forgetting about finding the rooms. Brien started walking to the right, leaving everyone staring down the staircase.

“Where are you going?” Eldon inquired.

Brien looked back. “Let’s not be too hasty here. We should find some rooms to sleep in first. I’m already feeling a little bit tired. We have to find a place to put our stuff anyway.” The others woke up from their wonder, and the group disassembled.

“See you guys soon.” Serene said. The boys nodded and headed their way.

“Don’t try to sneak into our rooms at night.” Alera teased, causing the boys to feel indignant. However, she was already walking away, laughing with the rest of the girls.

____________________________________________________________________________

There were quite a few doors on the boy’s side. All of them were closed. They tried knocking, but when there was no response they attempted to get in. All of the doors were locked.

“Seems like everyone’s out.” Angus remarked, trying to rotate a door knob.

“Wait, there’s one room that’s open over there.” Nikolas pointed out. They walked over to it briskly. Peeking inside, they saw a fairly large room with four separate beds and drawers, and there was even a balcony!

“Sweet! I was expecting bunk beds and a cramped room. Looks like the Valis Institute is quite well off.” Brien said. He instantly went to the bed on the right closest to the door. He plowed straight on to it, lying face down.

“It’s quite a coincidence that there’s just enough beds for all of us.” Nikolas joked. He closed the door.

“Ahh...It’s surprisingly of a good quality too!” Brien happily said, sniffing the bed sheets. He took off his pack and put it down on the right side of the bed, and continued to lay there.

Angus raised an eyebrow. “Okay, then.” He went to the left bed near the window, notedly the farthest away from Brien’s.

“I’ll take this bed then if you don’t mind Eldon.” Nikolas said.

“Not a problem.” Nikolas took the bed beside Angus’s, so Eldon took the bed next to Brien’s.

“Angus, can I get my bag, please?” Eldon asked.

“Hold up.” Angus took off his bag, placing it on the floor. It made a soft thud. “Here it is.” Angus took out Eldon’s bag and handed it over. Eldon began to unpack, taking great care in handling his books.

“Snore”

Brien had already fallen asleep. Eldon didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. (Author’s note: I’ve always wanted to use that line :’) ).

Angus snickered at the sleeping Brien. “Look at this punk. Completely vulnerable. I could thrash him right now if I wanted.” Nikolas stifled a laugh.

“Knock, knock”

Besides the fast asleep Brien, the others looked up from their unpacking. Angus went up to check who it was.

____________________________________________________________________________

…

…

Lol, winging it isn’t as easy as I thought. I’ll probably have to go slower on the chapters and plan out the major parts. I tried to include at least some minor action, but I can’t really tell how well it worked out. How's the pacing of the story so far? I'm also trying to improve my writing, so if you see any weaknesses, please tell me!

Just came back from a run, and finished the rest off after the teleportation in one go. My mind is a bit drowsy right now so there might be a few mistakes.

Phew! Time for some watermelon.

Hmm, after reading it over, it feels a little bit choppy and rushed to me (not talking about pacing, just the dialogue and stuff). Opinions?