2 Chapter 1–The Trials Begin

It's a brisk autumn morning, my breath goes up in clouds as I sigh. Today I'm heading to the academy, more specifically, the renowned Academy of Adventures and Elites. I know—I should be happy or excited, but I just can't shake this nervousness.

My mom, who's walking me to the pickup area, pokes me, "What's the matter, aren't you excited?"

I wave away her pestering hand, "I'm fine mom, just a little nervous about meeting everyone."

"You never did spend a lot of time with kids your age," she mused.

I promptly flick her on the forehead, "And whose fault do you think that is," I say—annoyed.

"Ow," she moans, rubbing her forehead. "Children need to train, and I had to go to those meetings," she says—pouting.

"Yeah I know," I say begrudgingly.

I run my hand through my hair internally sighing, reminiscing my lonely childhood. I really wanted to make friends.

'I just can't mess this up.'

"Hey mom," I say.

"What," she mumbles.

"The academy…what was it like when you went," I ask awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

She looks taken aback, as she rarely even mentions her time at the academy. A warm smile starts to spread on her face as she says, "It was fun."

"Me and some of my closest friends, we spent our days training, going on missions, laughing…" she trails off, eyes in a trance, reminiscing.

"Fonder days," she whispers.

'She looks so…happy.' I couldn't help but smile. 'Maybe I can make friends that make me smile like that too.' Feeling just a little bit better, we continue onward toward the palace gates.

After a while of walking, we arrive at the gates. There are guards posted at the entrance. Through the grated gates, I see some sort of "transport" it resembled a standard carriage, but this one's unusually long. I'd wondered how we would be brought to the academy, but this transport is strange though.

This made me remember the time mom ranted to me about the headmaster. He would choose a different form of transport every school year. Her year rode horseback from what I remembered. She also went on for some time about all the headmaster's antics during her time at the academy. Just one of the rare occasions, she talked about her time there.

I let out a sigh of relief. 'Guess I won't be getting a refresher on horseback riding.' I chuckle to myself as I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around only to be pulled into a hug.

"Have a lot of fun, okay," my mom whispers to me, holding me tight.

"O-of course, can you let go now," I sputter embarrassed.

She flashes me a smile as she turns away, and begins to sink into her shadow. I briefly watch as she disappears beneath its surface. I take a deep breath, then I walk the rest of the way approaching the guard.

'Here we go.'

"You're an academy student, right," the guard questions.

"Yeah," I respond.

"Your ID," he asks politely.

"Sure, one moment," I say, fishing for it in my pouch. "There you are," I say, setting my ID in his expectant hand. He inspects it for a moment before handing it back to me.

"You're good to go," he says, letting me through.

A rather stout coachman stands at the carriage door ready to greet me.. He opens the door for me, giving a polite nod, as I pass to enter. I stare down the long hall of the carriage interior, it's lined with sliding doors on either side.

'How strange.'

I walk down the hall and stop at one of the doors. 'Here goes nothing.' I slide open the door just as there is a crash on the other side. I stand there awkwardly as I take in the scene before me. There's a boy, he has a head of messy white hair, and he's on top of a girl. She has a set of crimson twin-tails.

The boy is blushing, his cheeks an impressive shade of scarlet, looking as embarrassed as I felt. He tries to sputter an explanation about him falling trying to put his luggage on the top storage rack.

It seems like he's telling the truth, but the now blushing girl is looking increasingly angry—he hadn't gotten off of her. I quickly slam the door shut, and shuffle away from ensuing anger. I cringe a bit after hearing her slap him. I feel bad, but continue on down the hallway. I stop yet again at another door. I rest my hand on the handle—nervous.

'Surely not right?'

I take a deep breath, and brace myself as I slide open the door to a similar yet very different scene.

There's a girl sitting by the window. She has brown hair, and striking red eyes that are transfixed on the book in her hand. The boy sits across from the girl looking out the window. He also has a head of messy white hair.

'Strange.'

White hair isn't common. I, myself, have jet-black hair. Briefly, I wonder if this boy is at all related to the other boy.

"Hi," I start awkwardly.

The white-haired boy turns toward me with a bored expression.

"Hey," he responds with a wave.

"I'm Benji," I say, sitting beside the girl, "Benji Dariff."

"Dariff, huh," he says, looking me up and down.

"Name's Marshal Cranel," he says, still eyeing me quizzically.

I turn my attention toward the girl, and before I could ask, "Kate," she says simply, not looking up from her book.

"Sandra Dariff, right," Marshal asks.

I turn my attention back to him at hearing my mom's name.

"Yeah, that's my mom," I say, his face lights up.

"The son of an elite," he muses—intrigued. "So you must be strong, eh," he asks, sizing me up again.

"I'd hope so after all the training," I joke.

Marshal nods, "We should spar sometime."

"Uh, sure I don't mind," I say reluctantly.

"Alright," He shouts—excited. He leaps out of his seat, doing a fist pump. The carriage starts moving, making him stumble. He sits back down sheepishly.

"Sorry, got a little excited. I wanna be an elite ya see," he says, gesturing toward me, "And it's not every day you talk to a guy elite trained."

"I guess not," I say, a little embarrassed.

Marshal smiles a big smile, "Well, nice meeting you Benji." he says, turning his attention to the moving landscape outside the window. I slip the book I brought out of my pouch and begin to read.

After some time, the carriage comes to a halt—I lower my book in interest. I look to my right at the window, it's about noon now. We've stopped on a path in a meadow. I wonder why we stopped.

'Maybe the horses are tired. It is a large carriage after all.'

After a few minutes of waiting, I could hear a cart rolling toward our room. The door slides open to reveal what appeared to be a butler. Though it's obvious he isn't a true butler just by looking. He stood slouchily, wore a nervous smile, and the suit he wore wasn't even tailored to fit him. He's probably an adventurer sent to help protect the transport, and he likely got forced into helping with the serving.

The "butler" opens the cart shelves from his awkward position in the small carriage room. He then hands us all neatly wrapped sandwiches. We all thank him.

"There are also sweets, would you like any," he asks stiffly.

I nod and Marshal asks for some as well. After the adventurer hands us our sweets, he quickly pardons himself, and exits the room. I hand Marshal his share and unwrap my sandwich.

It looks delicious. There's cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, a sauce, and meat of some kind. It looks to be the meat of a monster. 'Wow, they're really spoiling us.' I give my thanks and take a big bite.

'Stale.'

I cringe as I chew then swallow the bite. I stare at the deceptively good-looking sandwich. Every bit of it is delicious except the noticeably stale bread, it isn't horrible, but it ruined the sandwich. I look over to Marshal, who's discovered the state of the bread. We both make eye contact. He shrugs and continues to eat. I begrudgingly do the same. 'Such wonderful meat is wasted on this bread.' I continue to eat, silently grieving the sandwich it could have been.

"So Kate was it," Marshal asks, breaking the silence.

Kate looks at him, "Yes," she says.

He points his half-eaten sandwich at her.

"You didn't say your family name earlier, what's up with that," he asks.

Kate ignores this question. Taking a bite out of her sandwich instead. Marshal glares at her, irritated.

"So what are you going to the academy for? Do you wanna be an adventurer or an elite in the end," He asks, taking an aggravated bite out of his sandwich.

Kate looks at him considering the question. "I haven't given it much thought," she says—shrugging.

"Eh? It's an academy for adventurers and elites. You mean to tell me you haven't considered it once," he says, scarfing down the rest of his sandwich.

Kate just shrugs, continuing to eat her own. Marshal sighs in defeat.

After some momentary silence, he turns to me, "You're not an elf right," he asks.

"Uh, no," I say, just before hearing the question I've heard over a thousand times.

"Then what's that mark on your face," he asks, unwrapping one of his sweets.

"Did an elf draw it on you," he mumbles thoughtfully, chewing his sweet. "No, funny story—I don't actually know how it got there, "I say, with a nervous laugh.

Marshal stares at me—annoyed, "You too, huh" he says.

"What? I'm not lying, it just appeared one day," I say.

"When did it appear," Marshal inquires, eyebrow raised.

"It appeared when I was 8. It used to be pretty small actually. It grew until I was 13 or so, but then it just stopped." I explain, taking a sweet myself.

"It grew," he repeats, mildly alarmed. I nod. "Definitely not elf magic then…" he says—staring.

The mark is one of the bigger mysteries in my life. It takes up most of my left cheek. Is as dark as my hair, and it looks like tendrils entangled and outstretched on my face. It's been on my face for 7 years now so I'm used to it, but human magic didn't involve marks so it's only natural people would ask questions. It didn't make it any less awkward though.

"—Benji," Marshal says, interrupting my thoughts, "I was asking if I could borrow your book," he says—pointing.

"Oh, sure," I say, handing him my book.

A minute or two later, a whip cracks and we're moving again. I decide to nap the rest of the way, and I snuggle into my seat and drift off.

I wake up to a hand, shaking me awake. I look over to see Kate.

"We're here," she says.

Marshal stands over at the doorway with a grin on his face. "Come on let's go everyone is already getting off," he says, as Kate and I both join him.

We all walk down the hall of the carriage, and step off. We're among a sizable crowd of first years. We all stand on the path that leads to the large castle-like structure that is the academy. We all get shuffled into a large dining hall. At the head of the room is a stage. The headmaster stands there behind a podium. He clears his throat before speaking.

"Welcome, students," he says, his voice greatly enhanced by what I presume to be an elfish speaking apparatus. "Today I will introduce you all to your 3 opening exams," he explains. "The first of which is a written exam, a test of general knowledge," he says unenthusiastically.

"The second, a duel, plain and simple. A test of how well you fare against an opponent. Duel listings will be given out tomorrow. The final exam is a survival task. You will be tested on your ability to gather basic necessities, and your ability to protect yourself against potential enemies," he says, leaning on his podium, "But for now the escorts will take you all to the exam room for your first exam."

The headmaster prepares to leave the stage, but someone rushes onto the stage and whispers something in his ear.

"Oh," He exclaims.

"The people who you shared a carriage room with will be your teammates for the rest of your time here," He says quickly, "Get well acquainted, because your mere classmates here today could be your most trusted comrades in the future."

The headmaster then leaves the stage. We are then taken to a large room filled with desks. We are then given our exam papers.

'General knowledge, huh. This'll be a cinch.'

I look across the exam room to Marshal, then I look over to Kate. I smile to myself, then start our first exam.