After mooching about on the cliffside staring off into the distance like a depressed emo boy from a music video, Wren figured it was about time that he headed back to main campus to start the second lesson of the day. It was armament training and he really wasn’t looking forward to it. The thought of sitting on the side lines for three hours while his classmates got to experiment with cool weapons, spar each other and just generally have a good time made him want to boycott the lesson in its entirety. But he couldn’t do that, he was sure that there would be some sort of consequences for completely skipping a class and he was far too early into his time at Ventus Academy to even think about risking that.

So he went about things as normal. He made his way to his second lesson, queued up at the back of his class line for the armoury and waited for his class’s turn to go pick their weapons. As usual, class 5 got their first pick, then it was class 4 led by Liam’s dad. Wren made sure to ignore Liam’s wave as he passed him holding the great sword he’d pretty much adopted as his own.

Wren was daydreaming about what weapon he should pick for this lesson, knowing full well that it was likely that he wouldn’t be able to attune with it, when it was finally his class’s turn to be called up. One by one they filed into the armoury, Instructor Ash standing at the doorway giving them all a nod of greeting as they passed her. Wren was at the back of the queue so he was the last to enter. But before he could even pass the threshold of the armoury, Ash placed a hand on his chest stopping him from going in.

“You and I need to have a chat.” She said to him.

“Oh? I know I’ve been performing particularly well in this lesson, but don’t you think it’s a bit early to put me up a class.” Wren said.

“Ha Ha. Very Funny.” She said, deadpan. “It’s actually quite the opposite I’m afraid. I’ve spoken to the director about your case, and we both agree that it would be better if you weren’t to take part in this class.”

Wren’s jaw dropped. He knew that he wasn’t really making any progress within the class but he didn’t think he’d be dropped so soon.

“So what? Like you’re moving me down a class? Do I join class 2?” He asked.

Ash gave him a sympathetic look and patted his shoulder.

“Unfortunately not. The recruits in class 2 are all able to attune with weapons as well, and that’s the same for class 1 too. What the director and I propose is that you don’t take any of the armament training classes.”

“What? So what am I suppose to do?” Wren questioned.

“That’s up to you. Consider it a free period of sorts. You can use it to focus on your other lessons, or just use it as relax, the choice is yours.”

“Right.” He didn’t have much else to say to that.

“I really am sorry Wren. We tried every type of weapon possible, it just seems that you’re not compatible with armaments. By doing this, we’re saving both your time and our time.”

Wren sighed. Defeated.

“If you say so.”

And with that he took a few steps back, turned and walked away. He walked back the way he’d come, ignoring all the stares he got from class 1 and class 2. He was humiliated but he wouldn’t let it show. He held his head up high and disappeared into the forest.

~

Similar to when he stormed off at lunch, he didn’t know where he was going. He thought about returning to the cliffside by the wind room, but at that moment he thought it would be a bad idea. He was more than likely to throw himself off the side in his despair rather than sit there calmly and reflect on the days events. So instead he decided to explore more of the island, a walk would do him some good. He hadn’t really had the chance to go travel the entire island, what with lessons taking up most of his time and the drama with Chadwick, he was wary of randomly bumping into the boy and starting another fight. But now, with everyone else in lessons, it was the perfect time. He would be completely undisturbed in anything he did.

With it being the first place he visited upon arrival at Ventus Academy, he decided to start at the sky docks and then skirt around the edge of the island, enjoying the open view of the sky. When he got there, the sky docks was completely empty. There was nary a sight or sound. The Ark from earlier in the day wasn’t even there, where was it was kept if not at the sky port? Maybe there was a neighbouring island where all the Arks were situated. That would be cool to see.

From the sky docks he decided to head east, and go round the island in counter clockwise fashion. Luckily there was a worn path around the island so he wouldn’t be treading through forest and overgrowth. Did many people take this path? It seemed quite quiet and deserted, he doubted there was anything of import around that area of the island but still, but it was a nice walk nonetheless.

After about ten minutes of aimless ambling, he finally came to something of interest. It was a small stream coming from the mouth of a cave. It trickled along calmly and smoothly, the sound of the water was peaceful. He could almost imagine he was on the side of a mountain back on Earth, going for a long hike in nature. Not that he ever did that back on Earth, there weren’t enough green spaces left for that. But the thought was nice all the same.

The stream led to the edge of the cliff, coming to an abrupt stop and plunging off the side. Wren looked over the side of the edge to watch the mini waterfall, the spray of the water lit up in the sky as it fell through the air. The little droplets of water sparkled in the sunlight making it look like tiny fairies were flying through the open sky.

Wren turned back in the direction of the cave, he was curious of where the stream had come from. Maybe there was an underwater reservoir like he thought there was. He hesitated for a second before stepping into the darkness of the cave. He wondered if there were any monsters living down there, but then he remembered his monster studies class. Lops had told them that all monsters had been eradicated from the island so it was definitely safe.

He stepped into the cave.