CHAPTER 3-SPARRING

“Chaos Energy. Not much is known about it, many don’t even know of its existence. It is said to be able to break the very fabric of existence. If one was to master this power…” he shuddered. “They would have the ability to make Time and Space kneel in submission.”

Chaos Energy… where have I heard that before. I know I’ve heard that somewhere, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Somewhere in the depths of my memory…

***

“Celeste! Over here!” Zephyr shouted excitedly.

Celeste waved and walked towards us. She had gotten taller over the summer, she was now a couple inches taller than me and Zeph. Not that I care or anything…

“Hi Zeph!. Hey Kai!” She said brightly, giving us both hugs. “How was your summer!”

Her happiness is always infectious, I couldn’t help but smile back at her when I saw her radiant expression.

“It was boring, as always,” I replied, “I spent most of it just practicing spells in my room.”

“Come on Kai, you need to let loose a little. Summer is supposed to be for taking a break to have fun, not more practice.”

“I know, right? Unlike this bore, I was out enjoying myself all summer.” Zephyr lied. I know this because he lives next door to me. He wasn’t ‘enjoying himself,’ he was doing chores for his mom the whole time. Out of consideration for him, though, I kept this to myself.

“I‘ve been out at my family’s beach mansion for the past few months!” Celeste said.

“What, was the beach house not expensive enough?” I teased, “ Leave it to the Riverstones to own a beach mansion.”

“Shut up, Kai.” She said, blushing, “It’s not like I wanted a mansion, my parents just bought it ‘cause they can.”

“Yeah, Kai, shut up!” Zephyr copied.

I let out a deep sigh. What am I gonna do with them?

“Hey, we have a free period, do you want to go spar in the training arena?” Cel asked, “I bet I’m stronger than you now, shortie.”

“No chance. I’ve been training the whole time you were at your beach mansion, you really think you can beat me now? And I’m not that short,” I said, turning away, “you just grow like a tree.”

“You know what they say, relaxation is the best fort of training.”

“Who in the world says that?”

“Me,” Zephyr and Celeste said in unison.

I let out an even deeper sigh.

***

“So, what do you want to do? Sword fight only or spells only?” I asked.

“How about both?” She proposed.

“Ooh, fancy. But let me tell you right now there is no way you can win that.”

“Hey! Of course she can win that! She’s very talented.” Zephyr huffed.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, have it your way. Don’t blame me if you get hurt, though.”

She nodded, holding her sword in front of her. “Ready?”

I grinned. “I’m always ready.”

It was over in about thirty seconds. Which, in her defense, was twenty seconds longer than I had expected. She was really holding her ground out there. Who knows, maybe relaxation does work!

As soon as I thought that, she collapsed. On second thought, maybe she just got lucky…

She had fainted from exhaustion. Supporting her with our bodies, Zeph and I took her to the nurse’s office, laying her down on the bed.

About three seconds later, she woke up. What convenient timing. She couldn’t have done that before we had to drag her across the school?

“What happened,” she asked sleepily, “what am I doing in the nurse’s office?”

“You passed out from exhaustion. We had to carry you here.” I responded flatly.

“Oh my god are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Are you breathing fine? Is your heartbeat normal?”

There’s no way Cel doesn’t know Zephyr’s secret by now, right? She can’t be that dense…

“Zeph, she’s fine, she just couldn’t handle my awesomeness.”

Celeste pouted. “I wasn’t that bad, was I? I know I said I didn’t but I also trained a little during the summer!”

That explains it. Why did the thought of relaxation working even cross my mind?

“Yeah, you actually did a lot better than I expected. You’ve improved.” I grinned.

“Well, what were you expecting? Did you think I would collapse after ten seconds?”

Actually that’s exactly what I thought, but I didn’t say it.

“Of course not. I was thinking more like eleven.” I joked.

She lightly slapped my arm. “Kai, you meanie!”

“Kidding, kidding,” I lied, “Zeph, do you want a go?”

Zephyr visibly paled at the thought. “Uhh, I… I would but… I think we should get to class!” He stuttered.

“What’s wrong? Scared?” I taunted.

“N-No, of course not,” he frantically looked around, as if someone would save him.

“I’m only teasing you. We should head to class, or we’re gonna be late.”

He let out a sigh of relief, then quickly tried to cover it by talking to Celeste. “What class do you have next period?”

“Umm,” she thought for a second, “oh yeah, I have intermediate melee tactics! What about you two?”

I saw Zephyr’s face brighten at her words. Man, this kid’s face has a lot of colors.

“Really? Me and Kai have that too!” He exclaimed.

“Well then what are we waiting for? I heard the teacher there is really strict. We’re gonna have to run if we don’t want to get yelled at.”

***

We stood outside the door labeled Melee Tactics and quickly noticed that the classroom looked more like a military training academy. The walls were lined with weapons instead of the “inspirational” posters than most teachers have. The chairs looked like medieval torture devices. And if that wasn’t enough, the entire floor was made of grass. Don’t even ask me how that one got approved by the school.

“Alright maggots, line up when I call your name.” the teacher said. He looked like the kind of person to say ‘you’re welcome’ after someone does something he commanded them to do. “Alain Cottings…”

Finally he reached “Zephyr Skyvane”, and we could all find out what he wanted us to do. And guess what? He told us to take our seats.

“First lesson: Discipline,” he started, “discipline is the single most important aspect of training. Whether it be sorcery, swordfighting, swimming, whatever you want to do. If you don’t have discipline, you will never amount to anything in your sorry lives.”

“He seems like a fun guy.” I whispered to Zeph. He failed to cover his giggle, and sat ramrod straight, as if that would stop the teacher from noticing.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was giving you all a comedy act. Everybody, fifty pushups, now!” he roared. “Eighty for you,” he said to Zephyr.

And that’s how we ended up in the nurse’s office for the second time that day. I did get to see a new color of Zeph’s, though. By the sixtieth pushup, he was a bright maroon, and by the sixty fifth, he collapsed, looking like an overgrown grape.

We ended up missing fourth period (no complaints here) and started to walk home, when we were rudely interrupted.

“Hey, kid. It’s Kai, right? I saw you sparring with that blonde chick earlier. You seemed pretty strong. You wanna try your luck against me?”

I have no idea who this guy was, but I had no intention of fighting him. “No, I’m good, I was just heading home.”

“I insist. What, you don’t think you could take me?” he jeered.

“No, I’m sure I could take you.” Judging by the amount of openings he was leaving, he looked like a guy who just went around harassing people younger than him. “I have nothing to prove to idiots like you.”

He pushed me against the wall. It didn’t hurt, but it was still annoying. “The hell did you just call me?”

I sighed. “Zeph, go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes. Zephyr, face already looking like a ghost, gave me an apologetic look before speeding away.

“Fine, I’ll fight you. But if I win, you have to leave this school.”

“Deal,” he agreed, “I don’t care about this place anyway. But when I win, you have to be my slave.”

Glancing at his posse, I considered it for a moment. But knowing I would never lose against this guy, I agreed. “Great. Let’s get started then.”

I was completely overwhelming him, but then his goons started entering the arena. “Are you really so incompetent that you need your lackeys to help you beat someone younger than you?”

“Shut up before I give you the same end as your brother.”

I blinked. “Come again?”

“Be quiet or I’ll send you to the same place your brother went.”

That did it. My vision swam with red as anger took over. I wasn’t even controlling my body anymore, it was as if some foreign force had taken over. I took down two, three, four of his ‘slaves’ before going after him.

“You think I’ll lose to someone with a father like yours? Failed at sorcery, so had to chop trees for a living. How pitiful. Hey, maybe after I deal with you, I can go for him too!” he continued.

I completely lost control over my thoughts. All I knew was that this boy was an enemy. My vision narrowed, and locked on to him, who was still laughing.

And then I exploded.

I felt like my body was being ripped apart. I watched my opponent and his entire gang disintegrate in front of me. The pain was too much, and I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by rubble.

The school, the classrooms, the arena, the gang.

They were all gone.