I had a commander who felt if you weren't awake when the sun came up you had already wasted half the day. Just about everyone in the old company ignored him and slept in. Unfortunately, I was only 8 or so and he could kick me out of the unit at any time. So while just about everyone slept in if I wasn't up the jerk would come and kick, slap, or punch me awake. I was only in the platoon for about 6 months until the idiot got himself and everyone else killed in an ambush. Luckily I was stuck at camp doing laundry. Made good money selling all platoons stuff. Unfortunately, the jerk instilled in me a habit I could never overcome. Once the sun was up so was I. Not knowing what time Short would meet me I started a light workout to kill time. Apparently, I had a lot of time to kill I guess the first thing means something else to Mr. Short.

“Knock, Knock.” Yelled a somewhat familiar voice from outside my door as they knocked. Standing up from my last set of pushups I put a clean shirt on and open the door. Tompson was standing there trying to look as confident as he could. His attempt just made him look constipated and strained. In one hand he held a paper sack.

“Got you food.” He said handing it to me and walking inside. I closed the door behind him. I found some amusement that he just walked in. I walked into my kitchen leaving him to look around.

“Not a bad spot you have here,” Thompson said as he sat in my living room chair bouncing in it to see how comfortable it was. “Furniture looks new and it's not too high up the mountain to make the hike all that bad.” Pulling out a large breakfast burrito and a mound of sausage I started eating.

“Short’s not coming I'm guessing?” I ask mouth full of food

“Nope,” Tompson said looking around as if there was something more to see in my living room than a few pieces of furniture. “He got called to the gate, we have a few mages that watch it at all times but they can't do anything if something happens, so Professor Short being a High Mage and all.” Not understanding why that matters I ask.

“Why do they need him specifically? Is there something wrong with the gate? and Short said there were a few High Mages. Wouldn't anyone work this morning?” Tompson looked at me confused.

“You don't know?” he asked as if it was so obvious I shouldn't have had to ask.

“Know what?” I ask starting to get annoyed

“Sorry,” he said catching his tone. “I'm just surprised they didn't go over that in orientation.”

“I guess I did skip orientation. Short took me straight from the hospital to get food and then we came here.” I said rolling my eyes.

“O ok,” Tompson said understanding showing across his face. “So I’ll go real basic, High Mages all have unique powers on top of being good at all other magics. They have some power that is something that only they can do, Professor Short can make portals he can also teleport, and a few other things. I think he calls it Dimension Magic or something. Once you touch the Rock you get a basic idea of what your power is and a basic instinct of magic in general.” The burrito was halfway to my mouth before putting it back down.

“What Rock?” Ifelt more and more lost the longer Tompson talked. He smacked his forehead

“Right, sorry, ok it's hard to explain and I don't really know a lot about it. I asked but I'm just a lowly ability user I don't need to know everything, or so most of the mages think.” He got lost for a moment a flash of anger in his eyes held strong showing a deep resentment the next moment it was gone and was back to normal. “So anyway when the city was being fixed up no one had magic yet. They didn't know it was possible to even get magic. Well, there's this big room at the top of the mountain well I say room but it's more like a small coliseum. In the center of it was this large rock sitting in what they thought was water. Someone, sorry don't remember their name, someone went to look at the large rock and stepped into the water. Well, the water wasn't water it was Mana pure unrefined Mana that messed him up badly. I think he was dead before he hit the ground but I could be wrong. Well, I don't know why but the Rock was somehow activated. It wasn't a rock at all but a relic left behind by the people who lived here. After a lot of testing and politics, I think a guy named Steven, Steve? I’ll call him Steven bottled the Mana up for testing. Well, as we all know you can’t use regular glass to hold pure mana the container blew up and he got hit by the Mana. Well luckily for him he became a mage and even more lucky he touched the rock. It uploads basic magic control right to you. It's a learning aid the thing sees what you can do and gives you the basic understanding needed to use magic. For me, I can use shadows to become invisible, even though I could use the ability I had no idea how. When I touched the Rock I just all of a sudden knew how to go about using my ability. At first, I sucked at it but I’ve been practicing, wait I’ll show you.” Tompson closes his eyes. For a moment nothing happens then slowly he starts to fade. Not becoming completely invisible but translucent. Opening his eyes he becomes clear again. “If it was darker in here I’d have been harder to see.”

“So?” I ask unsure if I understand it correctly. “When I touch the Rock I’ll be able to use magic and I’ll know what makes me a High Mage?” Tompson waves his hand and shrugs.

“Kiiiindaaaa,” he said slowly. “Think of it like, one second you can’t drive a car but then you touch the Rock, boom now you know how to drive. But you have never driven before so it feels all wrong even though you know you can drive. So now you know to press the gas pedal to move forward but you have no idea why pressing the gas makes the car go faster or how the brakes work. So ya you can drive! but real crappy and you'll never be all that good at it if you don't learn on your own to fill in the gaps.”

“I think I'm going to have to experience it myself before I understand,” I say finishing my burrito. Seeing me done Tompson stands up.

“Well now is as good a time as ever let's go to class. The Rock is part of the course so you'll be doing that today anyway, also the Rock does more than just give us magic knowledge. It's also a battle arena and if you give it Mana you get something cool.” We head out onto the street and start walking up the mountain passing people and homes some wave as we pass others in a hurry to get to where ever they are headed

“So the Rock. I'm confused it's a battle arena? What's that mean?” Tompson bobs his head for a moment thinking of how to explain. “Ever watch Star Trek the Halo Deck?” Thinking hard I vaguely remember watching the show.

“I think I get it I had a good friend who loved that show whenever he could he would drag a few of us to watch a movie marathon. Too bad he died, land mine got him, I think, or was it the napalm?” Shaking my head clear. Tompson’s looking at me real odd. “So it's a Halo deck? And it gives out stuff?” Tompson just kinda looks at me and shivers.

“Ya,” he says looking away from me. “It's like a halo deck just instead of science it's magic. And you might get an item. When you use it you have to give it magic to work it's not self-sufficient. For High Mages, it's easy to get an item you guys have so much power it makes it for you fast. Mages usually take a few weeks if they give a lot of Mana to the Rock. Ability Users take months to get anything. I hear their real handy. You only get one item and for some reason, only you can use it. Professor Short, his item is a pocket watch that gives him readings on the membrane of… I forget what it's called but it helps him make long-range portals.”

“Sounds useful,” I say wondering what I’d get maybe a cool magic grenade launcher. Making our way to the school Tompson talks about the town, his friends, what he wants to do with his life, his hobbies, his birthday, his favorite band, the name he wants to name a band if he could ever get a drummer to join his, what he likes to eat. I pick up the pace a bit, the kid was not a bad guy but I just don't need to know why he likes German Sausages so much. That's an ‘I’ve known you for a few weeks’ kinda knowledge not we talked for half an hour kinda thing. The school itself wasn't what I expected it didn't look like any school I had ever heard of. Then again I’d never been to school in the first place so I can't judge too hard. The school was 4 story Roman-looking amphitheater complete with stone arches and columns.

“This it?” I ask. “I was expecting… I don't know what I was expecting but?” I wave at the school not sure what to say. Tompson smiles.

“You’re lucky Professor Short didn't bring you, my first day he waited until we were inside the arena it's got seating so you can watch other people train I guess. Anyway, he said there was this big age-old tradition to give a speech in front of the staff about being worthy of being taught. I almost had a panic attack trying to come up with something to say.” Tompson waved me forward walking past large stone archways we made it inside. I stopped the entire building was in fact a coliseum the stone walkway stooped right at the entrance and dropped a few inches into a round sandpit the size of a football field. There were wide rows of seating surrounding the entire sandpit. The first row was raised about 8 feet above us with 2 more rows going up each raised the same height making the open building feel closed off and confined. In the center of the sandpit floated the Rock, well more a small bolder. It was rough and bulbous like a nugget of ore pulled from a mine unrefined and ugly. If it wasn't floating I’d have dismissed it for what it looked like, a rock.

“All here I see.” A voice called from above. Looking up I saw a man floating over the coliseum.

“Show off!” yelled Tompson happily. The man waved then plummeted down slamming onto the sand landing solidly not flinching, or showing any indication of the drop of 40 plus feet hurt in any way.

“Of course,” the man said to Tompson. “We got a new guy today have to show what we can do to motivate him.” The man shook my hand “I'm your instructor for beginners' courses. I’m Mage Kody Stills happy to have you Mr?”

“Sledge,” I say looking him over he was a little taller than me and stood maybe 6’2” brown-reddish hair with brown eyes. He spoke confidently with an air of humor about him with a slight southern twang that would come out at the ends of certain words. Almost as if he was just about to lose his accent.

“Where Trisha?” Tompson asked looking around. Kody looked proud as he said.

“She graduated! Came in over the weekend and finished her challenge. Now it's just us three, well for now.”

“Why for now?” I ask

“Immigration still going on,” said Kody. “A lot more people to test, we may get a few ability users, hopefully, a mage. Then again we may only get you- Sledge and next immigration we get flooded with new people. You never really know how it's going to be. Anyhow, let's get started, Sledge you know about the Rock and how it works.” Pointing to Tompson I said.

“He was nice enough to fill me in, why do you call it The Rock? Seems kinda plain for something that does what it does?” Tompson laughs.

“Every few months someone tries to name it. I even voted on a name once but they just never stick we tried obelisk, assessor, and so on. I guess we always come back to calling it the Rock. It’s like every few months we go in a circle the Rock’s called an obelisk one day, then the Rock’s called this Mana stone, but it always comes back to The Rock, The Rock, The Rock. So most of us just kinda gave up and call it The Rock.”

“Yup, we keep just coming back to the Rock.” He said nodding along while leading us to the Rock. “I'm sure in a few months someone will want to name it something cool and new, but it won't stick. So here we are just put your hand on it and we can get started.” Standing in front of the Rock I felt out of place as if this moment was supposed to be grander as if a great moment of my life was being passed over. The key to my power to magic itself lay in front of me and it came down to poking a rock.

“Well,” I say looking at Kody and Tompson, “Here goes nothing.” placing my hand on the Rock immediately I feel something as if a part of me is flowing down my arm and into the Rock after a few moments the Rock pulses with a dull gray light then a flash. Rubbing my eyes clear I stop and look around lost and confused. All around me is a dark thick rolling fog moving around like an angry thunderstorm. To my side light start pushing through the fog. I watch in wonder as the light gets brighter and brighter cutting through the angry storm then the light breaks free and hits me. I live a memory not my own but somehow a part of me. I was injured, dying a sword plunged into my chest I sought inward and grasped a power I’d never felt before. It was pure and beautiful. I brought it forth and covered my wounds and I was healed. As the memory faded I lost the complexity of what the memory did but I knew I could find that pure power and call it to heal myself if only basic injuries. Without seeing it another light hit me and another memory appeared I sat at a desk an iron dagger lay in front of me. Again I felt deep inside of myself and pulled at a power iv never felt before. While the last one was pure this was was, I don't know how to expand it the magic felt ordered. I felt the power enter the knife and I focused on the flames imbuing the knife. Soon the knife caught fire it was enchanted! As the memory faded I lost how he made it light on fire but I knew I could now find my own way to enchant. Then another light hit me and I was the wind gentle for a moment then a storm the next. Then I was fire, then earth, then water. I grew trees and forests, I created elixirs. Over and over I was hit with new pathways to power and new memories that faded to the back of my mind. Eventually, the lights stopped I was exhausted and my head hurt. The fog had calmed down slightly the color a bit brighter and the rage it had before was soothed a bit. Then I felt something behind me my hair rose and my heartbeat was harder than it ever has before. I felt exposed and vulnerable I turned around slowly almost wishing I hadn't seen what was behind me. A lion strong proud stood in front of me its paws and teeth meant certain death. Distracted as I was I barely noticed a bald eagle landing on my shoulder. The eagle and lion stared at one another for a long moment. Then the lion roared! The sound was deafening reverberating deep in my chest I could feel the vibrations in my heart. The eagle joined in a mighty screech that filled the air. Not knowing when or why I realized I was yelling along with the animals our cries joined together making the sound an almost physical force pushing fog back far away. As quickly as they appeared the animals were gone and I was alone standing in a white void of eternity. There were no memories of this magic no instructions I just knew what it was. I was the High Mage of the Beast and when I was ready my magic would guide me.

“That was fast.” I heard Kody say as I came out of the visions “Must have given the Rock a lot of mana to get the item already.” The world came into focus slowly.

“That was intense,” I said as Tompson walked up to me and put his hand out. Realizing I was on the ground I let him help me up not trusting my legs. Tompson pointed to the Rock.

“You're a lucky guy, Sledge, I’ve been waiting months for my item and haven't gotten it yet.” Looking to where he was pointing I see a large double-bladed war Axe on the ground in front of the Rock.

“What?” I say confused looking at the two men with me. “I thought it takes a while to get an item?” Kody just shrugs looking a little jealous but somehow still happy for me.

“You're a High Mage you got a lot of power to spare.” He waved me to the Axe. “Well go ahead it's yours.” Tompson nodded eagerly.

“I wonder what makes it special?” Feeling mostly recovered I walk to the Axe the thing is massive the blades at the widest were about three feet with a mean-looking spike at the top of it. The shaft like the head was smooth the metal was a dull silver color but it was thick with another spike at the bottom of the shaft. In all, the war axe looked to be 6 feet long. Reaching down I grab the shaft to lift it. Or try to, the thing weighed a ton grabbing it with both hands I barely budge it.

“Don't know how useful this is going to be if I can't lift it,” I say annoyed. Kody walks up next to me and looks at the axe

“Kinda plain looking, but then again a weapon doesn't need to look pretty to be effective. You may have to use earth magic to use it.” He said.

“How?” I ask looking at him blankly.

“You got a memory with earth magic right?” Kody says while smiling at me. Thinking hard I remember the earth magic memory. It started with a pathway leading deep into me the magic felt sturdy and unyielding.

“I did.”

“Good,” Kody said. “You know what it feels like, this will actually be a good introduction to using magic. Like in the memory, feel within yourself find the magic and once you have it, will it out of you. Remember it's important no matter the magic to have a clear idea of what you want the magic to do. When you find the magic imagine it flowing into the axe filling it and becoming one with it. To move the axe when you move, to lift when you lift and drop when you let it.”

“I'll try,” I say not really knowing what to do I just stare at the axe for a moment. Kody softly laughs.

“Trust your instincts, the Rock imprinted the basics in you so you can do it just trust yourself and let the magic flow.”

I nod to Kody and close my eyes trusting myself, leaning down I grab the Axe feeling the cool metal. Looking inward was strange I immediately found my magic with no idea how I found it. I just knew that deep within myself I found power, my power. For several minutes I sat looking into myself not able to find the earth's magic. Seeing that approach wasn't working I called out to my magic focusing on my need for earth magic. After a few seconds, my magic answered deep from within. I felt it fill me from head to toe thinking hard about what I wanted the magic to do. The magic responded sluggishly and hesitantly but respond it did, the magic left my arm and slowly filled the Axe. I pulled the axe and still, it wouldn't budge.

“Lift damn you,” I grunted in extreme concentration. Struggling I felt my magic respond and the axe slowly got lighter. With a final heave, I lifted the War axe high in the air. Realizing what I did I looked at Kody and Tompson. “I did it! I did magic!” Losing my concentration the axe grew heavy immediately. “Crap,” I said as the axe head dropped into the sand almost taking Kody’s foot off.

“Watch it,” Kody yelled jumping back he looked at his foot and sighed in relief. “Ok first rule of magic is, never lose concentration. As Yoda says ‘Do or do not. There is no try.’”

“Sorry,” I say sheepishly. I wipe the sweat out of my eyes. “What next?” Kody looks at the axe warily.

“We have all day to practice so take the next hour swinging that thing around. Try and keep the weight as stable as you can. Maybe when you’re comfortable with it practice letting it get heavy while swinging down and lightening it while swinging up. It should teach you some good Mana control. While you do that I’ll work with Tompson some, in an hour we can work on a few basics of elemental magic. Then when you get the hang of a few we will see what your challenge is with the Rock. As a high mage, your challenge will probably be hard to finish so we need to know what it is so we can make a lesson plan for it.” I pointed at Tompson.

“He said the Rock has a halo deck function, is that how it challenges you?”

“Yup,” said Tompson giving the P in yup a loud pop. “My challenge is I have to sneak through a building that's guarded without being found. It's different for everyone and not everyone completes their challenges. For most of us it's a basic skill test but for others from what I heard it's a gauntlet.” Interrupting us Kody lightly pushes Tompson away.

“Let's get to it guys we don't want to waste all day talking.”

For the next hour, I swung the war axe, steadily getting the hang of it. At times I let it get to heavy and it would drop out of my hands, other times I made it to light. Swinging it the momentum pulled me with the axe so I kinda just twirled in place getting dizzy. By the time the hour was up I had an ok handle on using the war axe. I was by no means competent but at least now I wasn't going to accidentally kill myself or someone else swinging the thing around.

“Ok guys good job,” yelled Kody waving me over to the two of them. Kody pointed to the stands speaking to Tompson “Go ahead and take a break while I teach Sledge some elemental magic.” Tompson waved at me and hurried off into the stands.

“ So,” Kody said. “Until we see your challenge I can’t know what we need to focus on so we will just wing it. Having said that and looking at your item, it is a war axe of doom, I'm going to guess there may be a combat element to it so I’ll show you some basic attack and defense moves. We have earth mana down but all you've done with it is use it to weald your axe. We're going to start by learning three basic moves with earth Mana, then we will move on to water if we have time. First, I want you to make a wall of earth for defense. You do that by pushing the earth mana down into the ground and calling up a wall. The strength of the wall depends on how much mana you use and how compacted the earth is.”

Shrugging I close my eyes and concentrate, calling the earth mana was way easier than just an hour ago. Feeling the ground beneath me I push the mana into the sand and then to a deeper layer of dirt and rocks. Under that was the mountain, I left that alone not knowing if it was a good idea to mess with the mountain that kept half the town up and kept the waterfall from killing us all. Envisioning a strong compacted wall I felt my magic move. Opening my eyes I was disappointed, to say the least. The wall was smaller than I expected lumpy and large sections were made of sand something I tried to ignore. Kody waved his hand and a blast of wind blew the wall over as if it wasn't even there.

“ Not bad for a first try, not the best I’ve seen but not bad. Try again but take your time, speed will come with practice just focus on getting it right.”

“Alright,” I say closing my eyes.

“Wait,” said Kody. “Don't close your eyes, I know it makes it easy to feel your magic but it's a really bad habit to get into.”

“Right, good point.” Ignoring the urge to close my eyes I took my time to feel the earth below me going slow to let the mana saturate what I wanted. Thinking hard I imagined my magic responding to what I wanted to happen. With a heave of will, a wall 6 feet tall and 15 feet wide surged upward. Kody nodded approvingly he sent a blast of wind at it and the wall stood strong.

“ Better, way better,” Kody said as he waved his hand making the wall crumble and disappear in an instant. “The next move you will learn with earth will be an earth spike. It's the same process with the wall just smaller and more compact. I know I said speed will come but for attacks, speed is a factor so try and make it shoot up fast if you can.”

After several attempts I got the earth spike to come up at acceptable speeds. The spikes themselves needed work but I was making progress. After that Kody had me make a hut it was something practical, an easy shelter if I ever got lost in the woods. But not necessarily useful to me at the movement. Kody pulled up his sleeve and looked at his watch and frowned.

“We took longer than I wanted so we won't go over other elements today. If we want to see what your challenge is we need to do it now. “ Kody waved Tompson over. “Tompson and I will be observing your challenge we can see what's going on but can't help in any way. We won't even be able to talk with you.”

“Ok,” I said, “How are we doing this?”

“We put our hands on the Rock…” Thompson began.

“And I’ll,” said Kody pointedly looking at Tompson, “set the challenge up.” Kody and Tompson put their hands on the Rock shrugging and following along. Feeling a bit uneasy I hefted my war axe onto my shoulder hopefully ready for anything. Kody spoke to the Rock.

“Challenge test for Sledge, two observers.” In a flash, I stood alone in a large open field. As far as the eye could see was waist-high grass swaying in the wind. To the east stood large mountains dotting the horizon.

“SKREEE!!” Something behind me bellowed swinging around I saw a large monster barreling toward me. The thing was a horrible mix of praying mantis and scorpion at least 8 feet tall. It looked tough being covered in a thick exoskeleton. And it moved fast! In moments, it was on me with barely a moment to think I hefted my axe to block a vicious swing from a scythe-like arm. The monster hit my axe like a truck sending me flying. Pain exploded in my chest as I felt ribs flex and crack. Acting on instinct I called forth my earth mana and a dome of rock encased me. Pushing my budding abilities to the limit I force a tunnel to appear in the ground leading me away from the monster. Hopefully giving me some distance and time to think of a plan. As I jumped into the hole the monster's blade stabbed into the dome, easily cutting into it. Crawling fast as I could I can hear the monster break into my dome much faster than I had hoped for. It roared again in a rage, looking back I could see the monster's scythe blades furiously cutting into the tunnel making quick work of tracing me. In desperation, I sent a wave of earth at it. I couldn't see what happened but there was a large crash and another rage-filled bellow filled the tunnel. Seeing the tunnel idea not working I opened a way up and shimmied out of the tunnel as fast as I could. Thankfully the monster was on the ground flailing around trying to get up. Using what time I had I concentrated hard making a pit as deep as I could in front of me. With my meager skills, I was just barely able to keep the pit covered with a thin layer of dirt and grass hopefully it would fool the monster. Way too fast to do anything else to prepare the monster was up and zeroed in on me. Moving like a train the monster sped right at me eager for a kill. I hefted my axe thanking my luck, I was able to keep a hold of my Axe in my desperate attempt to escape the monster. As the monster closed in on me, it raised a large wicked stinger high into the air ready to strike. The huge monster lunged forward devouring the last few yards and promptly fell into the pit I had made. Without wasting any time I willed rock spikes to shoot out of the walls of the pit. Rock spike, after rock spike, after rock spike pummeled the monster. My only offensive magic kept slamming into the monster pinning it in place and piercings its body over and over. Without waiting to see if it was truly pinned and dead. I raised my war axe over my head and crashed it down onto the monster's exposed head. A wicked craunch echoed out with blood and a vile goop I pulled my axe free and the monster stopped moving.

“What the hell?” I say as I fall to my knees my heart pumping hard. My hands shaking so bad I could barely keep ahold of my axe. Wiping the sweat from my eyes I take a calming breath.

“ That sucked.” I said, happy the fight was over. “But at least I passed my challenge.” I stood up brushing myself off. An explosion of dirt erupted behind me sending me sprawling on the ground. Before I could get my bearings a large stinger plunged into my chest with a wet sickening crunch. Unable to breathe or move I was helpless as I was lifted into the air by the stinger. Another monster had appeared from the ground behind me.

“SKREEE!!!” it bellowed.

All around me hundreds of monsters started digging their way out of the ground adding their terrible cries to a symphony of horror. My last moments were of monsters surrounding me, a hoard of monsters all fighting one another to get to me. The monster that had stabbed into my chest lifted me higher into the air showing the world its victory. Then with a painful jerk slammed me onto the ground. My world went dark in an explosion of pain.

“It's ok,” a voice yelled, “you’re ok Sledge it's not real you're ok!”

With a deep breath, I was able to process what happened. “What the HELL was that?” I yelled at Kody. Looking guilty he looked away for a moment then back to me.

“ I'm sorry,” he said slowly, unsure how to handle the situation. “I’ve never seen a challenge that aggressive before. My challenge was flying through hoops and hitting moving targets with different kinds of magic. I have a friend that only had to enchant a ball to float. I don't know what to say, we will just have to avoid doing the challenge from now on.”

“What?” I ask enraged. “No no no, those bugs aren't getting away with killing me that easy. I don't care if it's not real, I'm going to kill em, and I'm going to kill them painfully.”

“Ok,” Kody said looking a bit lost. “I’ll come up with a lesson plan for your challenge.” Kody stood up and helped me up as well. “I guess,” he said at a loss on what to do. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” With that Kody floated into the air and flew off. Tompson looked at me with a light in his eyes I hadn't seen before.

“That was the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life man.” A weak laugh escaped me.

“Thanks kid always happy to entertain,” I said walking away wanting to get away from the Rock of doom and take a shower.

“You know,” Tompson called after me. “ My mom’s single!”

“What now!” I ask turning around shocked.