“ugh, What the hell happened” Bryn asked himself as he held his head whilst waking up, he hadn’t felt this bad in a long time, it felt like the time he and John swiped his father’s Whiskey and went to town on it when they were kids.

Bryn tried to get up but as he sat up he realised he was looking at the floor.

“Huh?”

“What the hell?” he asked in confusion.

“Over here” someone said and Bryn looked up to see three people standing within a half-destroyed room.

“Ah!” Bryn gasped in surprise as he realised what was going on, he was somehow lying down whilst being attached to the wall as if it was the floor.

It felt…. weird, there was no sensation of gravity acting against him, it felt normal, and that was what was weird.

Laying his head back down on the ground/wall so he could look at the three of them without straining his head, he realised he knew all three present.

Professor Blackwell was scowling at him as she tapped her foot in anger.

Eduardo had taken a seat at the front of the class and had his leg rested on some broken rubble in front of it.

Magnus Solomon, the proctor from his exam was standing in the centre of the room with his arms crossed, and an almost amused/disgruntled look on his face.

“Erm…hi” Bryn said as he gave an innocent wave to the three, Eduardo laughed whilst Solomon smiled.

Professor Blackwell threw a broken arm rest at him.

“Told you he wouldn’t remember a thing” Eduardo said from his seat, “Pay up”

“Tch” the vice principle clicked as he reached into his pocket and flicked a coin to Eduardo.

“Sorry, But what don’t I remember” Bryn asked having put two and two together.

“You’re in a room where literally everything is broke, ITS NOT THAT HARD TO FIGURE OUT!” Professor Blackwell shouted as she kicked about the rubble in anger.

“Calm down Ali, I remember you blowing up you own fair share of rooms when you attended the academy so I think that it’s only right that it is now happening to you now” Solomon joked as he let out a chuckle over the now embarrassed and distraught professor past antics.

“Wait, ah, ARGH!!!” she tried to respond but she knew that is was pointless to refute! He hadn’t said anything that was untrue and that was what was truly annoying.

“Hello, boy stuck to the wall here, Can you at least let me down” Bryn asked to which he suddenly felt gravity and nearly stumbled as he landed on his feet.

“Thanks” he said as he brushed off his trousers before moving over to the ruined professor’s desk and grabbing the rest of his clothing before putting them on.

“To answer your earlier question, Professor Blackwell here undid the Seal placed on your mana by the Hero Association when you were a baby without putting up any protection first” Solomon said as he gave a sideways look out of the corner of his eye towards the offending party.

“Hey, I didn’t know any of this was going to happen, he didn’t even introduce himself and shouldn’t you be more upset about the damage he did as the Vice-principle of the academy” she complained to which Bryn gasped.

“Ah sorry about that, people don’t tend to react well to me at the moment, Gideon Bryn, but For the moment I’m going by Bryn Lockhart” he said as he held out his hand but she just slapped it away, “I know that now!” she said as she huffed and puffed.

“So, I did all this” Bryn questioned but he knew the answer.

“Yep, we’ve got our own little mini-Hong-Kong in here” Eduardo joked from his seat and he fingered his prayer beads but from the looks of contempt and scorn all three of them gave him over the bad joke he knew it hadn’t gone over too well.

“Well, ignoring how the idiot put it, he isn’t wrong, This is what all those people feared would happen” the VP said, his words stinging Bryn as before this, he had held contempt and the moral high ground over those that had acted against him, only now he had proved their actions warranted.

“So, what happened, why did my flip get switched” Bryn asked knowing that dwelling on the past would help.

“Your switch got flipped so to speak, Because I removed the Seal that was preventing you from using your mana, as soon as it began to flow, you just went mad”

“So, my Mana is the problem”

“Yes, well, not exactly, from what we have figured out it is the particular Attunement of your mana that is the problem”

“Huh, I don’t understand”

“Mana whilst generated by humans in the same way, can vary in Attunement, it can take on unique attributes due to a person’s soul, their personality or it may adapt to a certain type of energy or treasure that it has a high compatibility with”

“In this case, you have inherited a high tier bloodline from your father and it has transformed your mana into the mana that the bloodline originally had, unfortunately that mana type is quite…insidious”

“So, what does that mean? Can I never use my mana again in case I turn into my dad?”

“No, not exactly, we have been talking whilst you were still asleep and we’ve come up with an idea”

“We believe that the problem you’re facing at the moment is that you are unable to control the sheer intensity of your own mana because this is the first real time you have been truly exposed to such a quantity at one time in your life”

“I bet when you were younger you constantly got in trouble, were quick to anger and had a pension for general mischief” The VP said from the side.

“Yeah, my aunt told me that when I was a little kid I was a proper mess, getting in fights with the other kids, stealing, breaking stuff, but I grew out of it after a couple years”

“No, you didn’t grow out of it, you adapted to the little bit of mana the seal let through and learnt to overcome it, if only it was a bit more then you may have been able to handle your mana now that the seal is gone but unfortunately that didn’t happen and it is now too powerful for you to control on your own”

“So, what happens if I can’t control it, I can’t exactly be a hero without it can I?”

“No and we’re not suggesting you do be, what needs to happen is that you need to learn to control your own mana and how to overcome the negative side effects that come along with its natural Attunement”

“And how am I going to do that, I entered into a psychotic rage two seconds after the seal was removed last time and did all this” he said as he motioned to the surroundings.

“We’re not suggesting that you remove it, but we’re going to have to have a new one implanted that will allow you to harness a limited amount of it which you will be able to adapt to before loosening the seal even further”

“That sounds…brilliant, when can we go ahead”

“Hold your horses Bryn, There’s a problem”

“Isn’t there always” Bryn said with a bit of annoyance, it had been one thing after another these past few days.

“Well, this one is quite serious, the seal that will be implanted will allow us to control the amount of mana allowed through, but different situations require different amounts of mana, we can’t have you killing someone because they slightly irritated you and you were UN-able to cut the flow to calm yourself down…its impractical to leave the control of the seal to one of us so that means that you will have to control it”

“I don’t see how that is a problem”

“The problem is you need to have a certain amount of know-how and control to manipulate the seal, both of which you entirely lack”

The Three were still for a moment whilst Bryn gave them a dead panned look.

“So, you came up with a plan that isn’t actually a plan because it is simply impossible to carry out” Bryn summed up to which the three teachers nodded.

“However, that is only for the moment, as long as you learn what you’re missing, it becomes a workable plan”

“Okay, brilliant, where do we start”

“With you joining the Spell creation class”

“Cool, I’m happy with that”

“I’m not!”

“Get over it Ali, It’s only a classroom”

“I don’t care about the classroom, burn it down for all I care, but my stuff…” Ali said as she cradled over the broke table.

“Stop guilt tripping the boy Ali” The VP said as he saw Bryn’s guilt-ridden face, he was getting annoyed with Ali going too far with her acting.

“Tch, fine” Ali said before wiping away the fake tears and shooting out a glowing triangle from her hand that expanded to cover the destroyed desk and all its contents.

Items began to float whilst the desk was put back together; it was only as it was coming towards the end that Bryn realised time was flowing backwards within the glowing dome until everything was completely restored.

With her desk back in pristine condition Ali stuck her tongue out at Bryn before taking a seat, “There is a reason that my class is only available to 2nd years and above, He needs to know the basics before he can manipulate spells”

“We don’t have a choice, he’ll be more at risk if he doesn’t learn it, and so will the other students”

“Fine, Come over here Bryn, I’ll place the seal now” Ali Blue said to which Bryn walked over, she grabbed his left arm and pulled up his hand.

“Do you need me to take it off?” Bryn asked as he motioned to the Ivory Gauntlet but Ali simply waved him off and carried on with her work.

Ten minutes later and she was done whilst Bryn now had a floating dial a little larger than a coin above his left Hand.

“It’s Done” She said as she took a step back, slightly tired from completing her work but none the worse for wear.

The three others inspected her work, curious as to its affects.

Symbols floated along its edges like the numbers on a clock, only whilst Bryn could tell time, he had no clue as to what the symbols meant.

“So, what now, can I use mana without going crazy?” He asked the question that was on all but Ali’s mind.

“No, not yet, we first need to test how much mana you can withstand before turning into whatever that was before?” Ali said as she reached out to grab his hand.

“Wait, I turned in to something?” Bryn asked in surprise as he had never seen his masked form.

“Don’t worry about it, the same thing happened to your dad back in the day as-well, Eduardo said from where he was sat.

“Hush…later” Ali said before the runes lit up on her finger tips again, only this time she did not go for his chest, but began to manipulate the dial on the back of his hand.

“I’m going to start at ten percent” she said whilst twisting the dial to allow the desired power level through, the runes atop it glowing as she twisted.

It was an immediate reaction, White chitin gathered atop his face whist his eyes turned golden, horns grew and a fifth eye…” nope, too much” Ali said as she adjusted the dial to close off the well of power.

“Bryn, Bryn, are you okay” Eduardo asked as he noticed Bryn beginning to shake when the power was cut.

“That…That was fucked up” he said as he took in a deep breath and adjusted himself.

“What happened?” the VP asked as he examined Bryn’s face, trying to find out where the mask was coming from.

“I don’t know, something just came over me, I…I, those thoughts weren’t mine, but they were” Bryn said in confused doubt.

The three professors shared a look, “what thoughts?” the VP asked.

“Dark thoughts, really dark…murder…torture…rape” he said as he looked to each of the professors one at a time, “I…I wanted to do it, I really wanted to do it” he said as a smile came to his face.

*SLAP*

“Get a Hold of yourself” Ali said as she slapped him.

Bryn looked up in surprise before showing a downcast face.

“Sorry, I’m fine now; it was just so…intoxicating!”

“The power that I felt, it was just so deep and thick, it flowed through me and made me feel like I was a…”

“…a god” The VP finished his sentence when Bryn couldn’t find the word.

“…yeah” Bryn nodded and felt a tad of shame.

“Don’t worry about it” the professors smiled as one, “Everything else that has happened here has been insane, but that part, feeling like a god…that’s normal” Eduardo said as he rose from his seat and pat his shoulder.

“It is?” Bryn asked as he grasped a hold of the small bit of hope offered.

“Of course, it is, we were all normal people at one time that had this power thrust upon them…I remember when I first felt that raw power flow through my veins, I let out a manacle laughter that would have gave any blockbuster mad scientist a run for their money” The VP said as he chuckled to his own memory.

“So, it’s…normal”

“Feeling like a god, yes, going mad with power, no” Ali said offhandedly blaze to which the two other professors gave her a pointed look.

“What? Come on, let’s try again” Ali Complained before trying again, only this time she started at the very beginning.

1%

2%

3% - Horn nubs began to grow on his forehead.

“How are you feeling?” Ali asked as she stopped for a second.

“Irritated, but fine” Bryn replied with a snap to his tone.

“Okay, I’m going to keep going then”

4%

5% - Black Horns breached the skin and started to grow.

6%

7%

“Too much” Bryn shouted as he panted, white chitin was starting to form at different parts of his face.

“Okay, no worries, I’ll just bring it back down” Ali said as she adjusted the dial.

6%

“Better?”

“Much” Bryn said as he relaxed.

“So, how do you feel?” the VP asked as he looked on.

Ali moved away and allowed Bryn to check himself out, he rubbed his arms and hands, felt his face and …

“Do I have horns?” Bryn gasped in surprise as he felt the pointy horns sticking out of his long hair.

“he-he, living up to your name as a demon’s spawn ain’t ya” The VP guffawed from the side.

“Really, horns, are you freaking kidding me?” Bryn raged as he padded about in anger, kicking rubble into the wall and smashing what little that wasn’t already smashed.

“Bryn!” Eduardo shouted out, pulling him from his rampage.

“How do you feel?” He asked once again only now Bryn noticed that the three professors were staring at him, they were worried, no, afraid.

They needed to be sure that Bryn was still in control, that he hadn’t turned into a psychopath like before.

“I’m fine, well, I’m Angry, really angry, and I want to punch everyone” Bryn said with increasing intent before calming, “but it’s better than before, constantly wanting to punch someone is way better than constantly wanting to kill someone, or do other things” Bryn said as he leant against Ali blue’s desk.

“Good, now let try this again” The VP said as he drew something from his pocket and threw it to Bryn.

It was a power stone.

“Do I even need this; I can feel the power flowing through my veins already” Bryn asked as he held up the power stone.

“Hmm, didn’t realise that your power was constantly flowing, that would have been the next step you would have been taught in your techniques class but no matter, The power stone does more than just draw out the mana from within your soul, it draws it out in the most direct path…a path that you can trace to its source”

“Hmm”

“I guess you missed this part of the techniques class huh, well, Mana manipulation comes down to essentially three basics, generation, flow, and execution”

“From what you just said, your mana is naturally flowing around your body via your mana veins, which is good, it usually takes a couple of days of practising drawing mana from your soul to establish a flow”

“However, generation is the production of the mana that you use”

“Yeah, the teacher said that our bodies passively create it to empower our bodies and pay the cost to keep it running

“Exactly, only now that you are a Hero that cost has been increased and will continue to increase, so in response to this we also need to increase the output that our souls can generate, do you understand?”

“Yeah, I think so; it’s like replacing a car engine with a nuclear reactor, Right?”

“Yes, but it’s no way near as simple, dramatic or of ease to put in to practice, the essential point is that to start off this process you need access to your soul, and by tracing the path that the power stone draws the power from, will train you to give you that access, now come along”

Bryn did as said and held the power stone in his hand; he felt it drawing some of its power into him and focused on the flow.

It was a new sensation to him, at first he just felt a warm sensation within his arm, but then it changed.

He started to truly feel the mana, not like water passing through his fingers like before, but like the fingers themselves.

It was just like his techniques teacher had said, it was like he had access to a new limb and he was truly just scraping the surface as to what that meant.

He followed the flow like he was a part of it, like he was being carried along inside of it as it flew along his veins like a water-slide.

It was just like the time during the second exam, only instead of being completely terrifying, this time it was thrilling!

His will flowed along his veins until finally; he had reached both the end, and the source.

Bryn appeared within a massive space of swirling energy, a set spherically boundary of white light encompassed it whilst within its centre was a chaotic maelstrom of purple energy and a core that glowed in a dirty red light.

Streams of power flowed to and from whilst explosion set off one after another in the distance.

‘This is my soul…What the fuck is wrong with me?’ Bryn said with a final thought before being expelled from his soul realm and back into real life.

“What did you see?” The VP asked when he noticed that Bryn had resurfaced.

Bryn didn’t answer straight away, he thought over what he had seen, what he had felt and the impression that it all gave off.

If he had to describe it… “It was horrible, it felt wrong and dirty, like everything was out of place and that it was on the verge of tearing itself apart”

The three teachers shared a worried look before Eduardo asked.

“But what about your soul, what colour was it” he asked.

“Colour? What does its colour have to do with any of this?” Bryn asked in confusion.

“Every living being possess a soul, but this does not mean that they are equal, from what we understand it takes a certain amount of power to possess a body, insects and wildlife may get away with possessing only the very essence of a soul to survive but sentient being require a fully matured soul, even if it is of the weakest red realm before it can possess a body”

“The amount of mana you will be able to manipulate and control depends upon the colour of your soul, so, what colour is it”

“Okay, it’s a sort of Dirty Red” Bryn answered

“Dirty Red? That isn’t a colour?” Ali responded immediately.

“Well, that’s what colour it is, some parts of it were red like you said, but other parts of it were black” Bryn Argued back in defence.

“You said dirty before, not black” Eduardo said from the side in a worried tone.

“What’s the difference” Bryn spat back.

“Dirty doesn’t mean anything but black means that your soul is dying!” the VP settled the argument from the side, a confused and contemplatively look on his face.

“My soul is dying, is that even possible?” Bryn asked worriedly whilst looking towards the three.

“Yes, but it is not easy and very few actually know how” Eduardo said as he turned towards the VP.

“What are you thinking Solomon?”

The three in the room looked to the VP because if any of them knew what was going on, it was going to be him.

“I’m thinking that the seal did more damage than we thought” The VP said as he reassured himself that his answer was correct, “With all your mana trapped within your soul realm, it was contained and prevented you from having any psychotic episodes, but that was just a means to treat the symptoms, not the cause”

“With your mana trapped in one place is seems the sheer amount of it has poisoned your soul, killing some parts of it whilst the rest of it festers and rots as it is literally drowned in power”

Nobody in the room liked the sounds of that, yet it was Bryn that was the most worried about it because it was happening to him and no one else.

“However,” the VP said, bringing back their attention, “this is also a good thing”

“How? How is this a good thing?” Bryn asked in aggravated sarcasm, partly triggered from the situation but mostly from the influence his mana had on him.

“It’s a good thing, because we now have an end goal” The VP said with a Finality that made the others shiver.

Only Bryn shivered for another reason.

“What the hell!...Sorry, How does having an end goal help me” he asked after calming himself down half way through speaking.

“it helps because now we know what we have to do, your soul is in its purest form, you” The VP said as he pointed at Bryn, “When your soul is no longer affected by your mana then neither will you be” The VP said Wisely to which all three nodded in understanding.

“Then what’s the plan” Bryn asked with determination, whatever the VP said he was going try his all to make it come to fruition.

“I don’t know” the VP said and made all of his previously wise and inspiring words come crashing down.

Eduardo chuckled whilst Ali held her head in exacerbation, Bryn meanwhile looked as if the floor had been taken out from beneath his feet.

“What? You just said you had a plan”

“No, I Said I had an End Goal”

“WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?”

“The difference is that one is an outcome whilst the others a means to achieve that outcome” the VP advised teacherly and without remorse.

“…” Bryn stared at the VP but didn’t know what to say.

“Now now Bryn, Calm Down, this isn’t going to help anyone” Eduardo came from behind and held onto him from his shoulders and directed him towards the exit before he could blow up.

“All this means is that you have to look into this yourself and find a way to achieve what the VP said, anyway, you’ve already missed Tactics but you’re just in time for training” He said before advising Bryn on where he could find his next class.

The three teachers watched him walk off, hoping that what they had just done didn’t lead to disaster.

“Ah” Bryn stopped and turned around before poking his head back through the door.

“What about the horns, will they disappear when I gain control” Bryn shouted to the three teachers who shared a quick look whilst they all thought about it for a second.

“Nope, they’re apart of you and your bloodline, just like your mana was sealed they too were, as more of your mana is unlocked so too will more of your bloodline” The VP said before wincing as Bryn Slammed the door closed in anger.

Bryn was smouldering as he walked across the courtyard to the training fields where his next class was taking place.

He could see several groups working together to do something whilst in the background was an obstacle course that looked like it had been set up with supers in mind.

Bryn made his way over to the class but instead of going towards Armarni who he could see flirting with a small group of girls next to the obstacle course, he headed towards the person who he thought was the teacher to the class.

The person in question was unlike the previous teachers he had met so far, and was someone like him, a legacy, or possibly the original.

A Hero, that similar to his father had obtained a bloodline.

The teacher looked like a herculean line-backer, the only difference from the actual thing was that he was covered in fur and had a golden braided Maine that flowed elegantly around his lion like head.

The teacher was instructing a group of students so Bryn decided to wait to the side and wait for him to become free.

It didn’t exactly work out as planned as the group of students had not only noticed Bryn, but his two new additions atop his forehead.

The teacher noticing their distress swings around and draws out to his full height as he spots Bryn, he gives him an appreciative gaze and notices the two horns and put together what the other students were disturbed by,

“Carry on” he told the students who were only too eager to leave, leaving just Bryn and the Teacher alone.

“You must by Gideon” the teacher asked with a growl.

“I prefer Bryn but Yes teacher, sorry I am late, I was…preoccupied” Bryn said as he tried to find the best word to sum up all that had happened.

“No doubt” The teacher said.

“Well, as you might have guessed, I’m the teacher in charge of the training course, the name is Richard Sway but most people call me by my Hero callsign, Lionheart” Lionheart said as he began to walk towards the obstacle course.

“Your previous classes, or at least the one that you attended, you may be able to understand the purpose of, Training is a little different, here you will practise what you have learnt in the other classes on top of a basic physical enhancement regimen”

“This here is the Gauntlet” Lionheart said as he roughly patted the wooden frame with his paws.

“In your techniques class earlier today you were taught how to access the mana within your bodies, now you are going to not only put that into practice but learn a way to use it” he said as he crouched down before jumping several meters in height, going far beyond the first obstacle and landing several meters into the course atop one of the highest obstacle.

“By directing the mana within your body to certain areas you can enhance your natural abilities seven-fold” he shouted before leaping back and landing just in front of Bryn with a bang.

“You learn to apply your power this way and nobody for the rest of hell week will mess with you” lionheart said and showed what Bryn thought was a smile.

“It’s that powerful?” Bryn asked in amazement.

Lionheart nodded his head, “That and those that participate in hell week are just a bunch of cowards, they don’t like to fight those that can fight back, so a show of force like this will scare most of them off”

“They’re cowards” Bryn asked to confirm, people that usually picked a fight didn’t get called a coward, it’s usually the people that refuse to fight that get called it.

“Yeah, they’re going after you now because you don’t have the power to fight back, it’s an easy win with no risk, but a week from now, they’ll still win but it won’t be such an easy fight and they might get hurt, and that is something that they won’t let happen”

“Why is getting hurt so bad?”

“…Because if they’re hurt, then they’re easier prey for the other students” Lionheart said with a predatory glint in his eye and Bryn understood.

“Now, let’s set you up with a group and then we can carry on with class” Lionheart said and was about to look around but Armarni who had noticed Bryn’s arrival had come over.

“And that’s my cue, he can join my group” Armarni said with a smile and gestured to a group that were looking at Bryn with faces similar to the group from before.

Lionheart waved them off before moving over to help another group whilst Bryn moved alongside Armarni to join up with the rest of the people within the group.

“hey…” Bryn said to them but before he could even introduce himself they had shot him a look and walked away, talking in hushed murmurs whilst shooting harsh glares back at him.

“Don’t mind them” Armarni said from the side as he tried to change the subject, “Take it your presence here means that the problem from earlier has been sorted”.

“Yeah” Bryn answered but didn’t go into any further details, there was too much to say and he doubted Armarni would be on any help with regards to solving any of it.

“Good, then let me show you what he wants us to do” Armarni said before repositioning himself so he was in front of Bryn with a little bit of space to work with.

“After you left the professor told us that the next stage of the technique was to learn how to draw out mana to a specific area, the professor had us direct our mana to our hands, feet, wherever we wanted to really”

“Lionheart wants to take this to the next level, he wants us to direct our mana and use it for a purpose, to strengthen the intended area” Armani said as he closed his eyes and concentrated for several seconds before opening his eyes with a smile.

“watch this” Armarni said smugly before jumping high into the sky, only things didn’t go as planned and he flew off to the side before rolling across the floor.

Armarni spluttered and coughed whilst being covered in dirt, he was embarrassed by the fall but it only grew worse when he noticed Bryn had also fallen over, only he had fallen over due to laughing too hard.

“Oh god, I needed that, do it again” Bryn said in-between his laughter to a red faced Armarni who after a bit of posturing, began to laugh as well.

“Well, the idea is that you distribute the energy evenly but what can I say, it’s easier said than done” Armarni said as he finished laughing.

“OK, I get it, so how do I do this” Bryn asked as he got back up.

“The idea is that you draw out mana and move it along your mana veins and will it to the desired area and pool it there, but you have to be careful, if don’t balance it equally then you’ll end up like me” Armarni said with a vicious smile, he desired outcome freely visible on his face.

Bryn bent down to attempt it but Armarni suddenly shouted up, “oh yeah, another thing, Lionheart said to remember that the mana has to be infused with everything equally otherwise bad things will happen”

“Bad things, like what?”

“Don’t know, he didn’t say” Armarni said with a shrug.

Bryn ignored Armarni who was of no longer of any use, he felt the mana flowing around his body and prepared to do as Armarni instructed but stopped.

Armarni had said that the very first step was to draw the mana out to use it but his was already flowing, did that mean it was already affecting his body somehow?

He had walked over to the class just fine but then again; he wasn’t really putting in any effort.

With his mind made up he decided to get a baseline on his current level.

Back in high school he hadn’t really had many chanced to test his body because all legacy children were band from competing in sports events, or competing with normal humans.

It was simply too unfair for a normal child to race against someone that could outpace a car, it was discriminatory against legacies but they had always reasoned it out that the legacies had to be held to a higher standard as with great power comes great responsibility, and using said power to win a child’s game was not using it responsibly.

‘How high did I used to be able to jump, I remember that time I was running away from those gang bangers with john and I jumped up to hang off the gutter of that two-story house whilst John hid in the trash, so what’s that, 12 – 13 feet’ Bryn thought as he psyched himself up.

“Okay, let’s do this” Bryn said to himself before jumping with all his might, easily jumping to about 19 feet before falling back to the earth and softening the blow by bending his knees.

“Damn Bryn, that was perfect” Armarni said as he came over, slightly disappointed but still impressed.

“Not yet, I can go higher” Bryn said as he focused, willing his mana into his legs and taking off like an eagle in flight.

He soared higher than before, higher than anybody on the field, he was nearly at the height of the school roofs! That was when everything started to go wrong and he noticed that he was losing his balance and was slowly tipping over, He started whirl winding his arms in an attempt to level himself out but it was of no use and he came back down to earth with a boom.

“Bryn, Bryn, you okay man?” Armarni said as he came rushing over to where Bryn had landed but as he saw Bryn laughing whilst laying on his back, he knew that he was fine.

“That was brilliant” Bryn said as he moved to get up, taking a hold of the Armani’s outstretched arm when he noticed it.

“Addictive isn’t it; you should see some of the bruises I’ve got from before you arrived” Armarni joked as he pulled Bryn up.

*SNAP*

“ARGH!” Suddenly someone shouted out as a sound similar to a twig sounding resounded across the field and drew the attention of everybody.

“there’s always one” Lionheart said as he looked towards where a student was laying on the floor whilst clutching his leg, “MEDIC!” Lionheart shouted before walking towards the student and making sure they were okay, only leaving them when a team of medics appeared and took the student away.

Noticing that all the students were still observing and not training lionheart took this opportunity to impart some wisdom, “Take a long look at what just happened, this is what happened when you do not distribute mana properly! The boy had foolishly strengthened all of his muscles but left his bones unprotected, causing them to be shattered when he exercised his strength”

“Every action had an equal and opposite reaction, you best remember that, now get back to work” lionheart said before moving over to a group that was struggling.

“Bet your bruises have nothing on that guy” Bryn joked to Armarni as they watched the boy be carted off.

“Do you want to do something else” Armani said in a slightly worried voice.

“Like what?”

“Running, Lionheart said it’s harder but I don’t really want to jump around anymore” Armarni said to which Bryn wholeheartedly agreed.

Whatever happened to the kid looked painful!

The two made their way over to a track that a few others were already using but it was meant for the entire class so it was no problem.

“Okay, so the theory here is the same as before, pool the mana within your legs but this time you have to will it to activate at your discretion” Armarni said as he stood before the starting line and kicked off, his step was several times larger than a normal one but when he came to take the second step he mistimed his mana and reverted to just jogging normally.

“Damn it” he said as he stumbled a little bit as he jarred his legs but managed to stay on his feet this time, “But you get the point” he said before walking back to join Bryn on the starting line.

“You Ready?” Armarni asked as he saw Bryn practising on the starting line by jumping from one foot to the other, only due to the influence of mana it looked more like his legs were attached to two different pogo sticks.

“yeah, I think I got this” Bryn said confidentially and with that, the next twenty minutes passed in hilarity as the two continuously fell over, barged into one another and shot off unexpectedly like a bullet every now and then.

Eventually though, the two of them did get into the swing of things, instead of going as fast as they could, they adopted a pseudo jog that was more of a long jump with every step.

It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

“So, didn’t get to ask you before, but what did you have to do in your exam?” Bryn asked as he jogged alongside Armarni.

Bryn was the faster of the two but this was practice, not a race.

“My Exam?” Armani struggled to respond as he focused on getting the timing right.

“Yeah, back in the Tunnels” Bryn said as he dodged out of the way of another student who was practising on the track before catching up with Armarni.

“Ah that, well you know how I picked Alchemy as my speciality, To pass the test we had to follow a recipe to create a magical concoction” Armani said whilst stumbling twice much to Bryn’s amusement.

“sounds hard” Bryn said but before he says anything else he felt something hard smack into the back of his legs and was sent tumbling to the ground.

“Watch where you’re going!” Bryn heard someone shout as he sat up and glared at a student who was giving a smug grin as he passed him.

Bryn rushed to get up and chase after the kid to pound his face in but Armarni held his shoulders down, “Calm Down Bryn” he said with a hint of worry as he looked into Bryn’s eyes that showed how angry he was and foretold what he would have done to the kid if he had caught up to him In that moment.

Bryn took a calming breath and cursed the mana running through his veins, “I’m good, thanks” Bryn said as he got up and saw Armarni glaring at the student that had tripped him in the distance, “Damn, I would have let you go but it looked like you were going to kill him there and then” Armarni joked.

“In all honesty, I was” Bryn said half-jokingly but he saw something in the way that Armarni looked at him that made him feel like he had believed him, but it wasn’t that, Armani was simply looking behind him.

*BANG*

Another student ‘accidentally’ collided with Bryn, spearing him in the side and sending them tumbling before getting up and running off, “If you’re not going to run then get off the track” the Student shouted with a pleased voice as he rushed away from Bryn who had jumped to his feet and was glaring at the kid who was running away.

“Bryn!” Armarni shouted out from behind him and he knew what he wanted to say, he could somehow feel that another student was targeting him again, that he was behind him and was about to charge into him again.

With a twist of his body Bryn dropped below the student as he flew above him before grabbing a hold of his top and flipping the student on to the floor and sending him rolling across the track.

The student got up quickly but not quick enough, Bryn was in his face in a second and pushed him backwards, hard.

“What the hell is your problem” Bryn shouted as he continued to get in the students face but another four students came to his aid and started to push him back.

Bryn recognised the other four as the students that had been messing with him.

“It was an accident, an Accident” One of the students said sarcastically as he looked down on Bryn, “or do you not know what an accident is from where you come from”

“Just like a Demon to pick a fight over nothing” another one quipped.

“I don’t understand why they would let a monster like you live, they should just put you down like a rabid dog” another said to which Bryn got even angrier and no longer held back and went to smack the person who had spoken last.

*SMACK*

“ENOUGH!” Lionheart shouted as he blocked Bryn’s punch and split the two groups up.

“If you’ve got a problem then issue a Duel but god help whoever tries to start a fight in the middle of my class because I’ll be the one you’ll be facing” Lionheart shouted angrily at the two groups whilst growling threateningly under his breathe.

The instigators smiled and walked away whilst laughing over Bryn’s reaction whilst Bryn began to follow them to finish it but was stopped as he realised that his hand was still being held but lionheart.

“Enough!” Lionheart said and threw Bryn to the ground before roaring in his face, shocking him back into his faculties.

The rest of the class looked over to the show but a glare from Lionheart quickly sent them back to work.

“Awake yet” lionheart said as he crossed his arms and watched as Bryn got back to his feet with Armani’s help.

“Yeah, thanks” Bryn Said but he still had a bit of mirth in his voice but Lionheart ignored it.

“Grr, Good, That’s the problem with bloodlines, it’s all positives until you realise that your fundamental nature has changed and you have to fight tooth and nail to remain in control” Lionheart said as he appraised Bryn knowingly.

Picking up on his meaning, Bryn asked “so you’re bloodline”

“Grr, yes, [Predators Instincts], it takes a lot of willpower to not rip the throats out of the students that challenge me” Lionheart said as he glanced towards the group of students that had walked off.

“People like that lot are going to keep coming after you and I won’t be there to stop you the next time you lose control”

“Then how can I control it, how did you” Armani asked hoping for an answer to his earlier problem.

“Grr, there is no quick fix, only a strong mental fortitude can give you the control you desire” Lionheart said before walking off to teach the class again.

“What was that about?” Armarni asked but Bryn just shrugged him off.

“It’s nothing, c’mon” Bryn said and spent the remainder of class practising his running technique in silence with Armarni by his side.

The class finished up a while later and after taking a quick and very cold shower to calm his smouldering heart, Bryn was happy to find out that his clothes would be automatically cleaned when he stored them away in any of the academy provided lockers.

The two walked out of the academy and headed down the non-beaten path to avoid the main paths where the older students would inevitably be waiting for the first years.

It was as if a game of cat and mouse had begun and it would not end until the week was done, and Bryn has no intention of losing.

The two walked for as long as they could together before Armarni stopped, “well this is me” he said as he motioned towards a hallway, “Do you know where you next class is” he asked worriedly but Bryn was unconcerned.

“Yeah, I’ve got taming down…. ah!” Bryn suddenly shouted out in shock and surprise.

“What?” Armarni asked in concern.

“I Forgot about Leena!” Bryn shouted as he took off running towards his next class, equal parts full of shame and worry.

Meanwhile Armarni was left in the hallway confused.

“Who’s Leena?”