4 Lightsgale Academy

The journey to the Air Bridge took 3 months of arduous travel. Rob had gone his separate way from Lucian and Tomas just before reaching the bridge. After leaving the Nightshade house, the gang had travelled every day. While slowly making their way across Bellare. They had race to the nearest little town or village before the veil of darkness covered the sky as being outside the walls usually meant death. They had stayed at the local inns, using the silver given to them by their parents. 100 copper coins equalled 1 silver coin, and 100 silver coins equalled 1 gold coin.

The journey was relatively safe as they had stayed on the main road for the whole trip. The main roads are protected by wards preventing most beasts from coming anywhere close to the path. However the occasional beasts did come through the barrier. The gang was attacked three times over the course of the three months. The beasts that attacked were relatively weak but still too powerful for Lucian or Tomas to stand the faintest chance of survival. Turns out that the unassuming carriage driver was a hidden expert sent by Tomas's father to protect the boys until the College.

The bridges between kingdoms couldn't be travelled across by normal horses. There were special tamed creatures used for crossing the bridge, they were 10 meter long lizards that ran on two legs. The hooves of horses did not have the necessary grip to traverse the bridges. They were unusually slippery, and the material that it was built from was still never found till this day. With the faster speed of the lihzard beasts, it still took over 2 months to cross the bridge. There were little check points every two days worth of travel for the bridge crossers to restock on food and water. There weren't any spectacular sights to see except for the sapphire coloured ocean underneath and on both sides of the bridge, and the sky. Away from the lights of the cities and towns, the sky did look beautiful on the bridge. The only light present was the dim radiating light from the bridge that became crystal clear in the night time. The reason why this happened was still a mystery.

After crossing the bridge and reaching Elfin, Lucian and Tomas continued on the road for another month before nearing the city.

"Wow it's beautiful," standing just outside the carriage, Lucian gaped in amazement at the city just 100 meters ahead of him, "I knew it was nice but this looks like it came out of a fairy tale." Lucian and Tomas had stopped the carriage at the apex of a hill so they could appreciate the sight of Lightsgale City.

"It isn't the hottest holiday location for no reason." Tomas was equally amazed. They had heard of the city beforehand but seeing it in person was a whole different experience. It was simply impossible to imagine how the city would look. The city was a large circular shape with a smaller circle within. The city had large fountains throughout the city and even taller towers. The biggest would be the bell tower, with a golden bell that would ring every day at 12 o'clock. The bell chimes would resonate through the whole city. The colour scheme was bright and would give you a feeling of happiness. The buildings were a bright yellow and some were milky white. There were green trees standing tall everywhere one looked. To the west of the city was the Lightsgale bay. The water was blue like a sapphire, and sparkled in the sunshine. The beach of the bay would be full of people most days, and today was no exception. The inner circle housed the academy. The Lightsgale Academy was the main attraction for the city as every year tens of thousands of people would seek entry into the academy.

"Let's go Tomas. We don't want to miss registration; if I'm not wrong we made it just in time."

The city wall was thirty meters tall and 10m thick, strong enough to keep out most beasts. There were guard towers along the wall and guards could be seen patrolling the wall's perimeter. "Morning. The fee is 1 silver per person. How many in the carriage?" They were greeted at the city's entrance by a guard. The carriage driver handed the three silver coins to the guard and nodded as he indicated for the horses to move forward.

"Take us straight to the academy." Tomas instructed the carriage driver as he peered through the front window at the city's main road. Houses and buildings lined both sides of the road. The main road went straight to the Academy. There were many carriages on the street, obviously people heading to register.

Lucian thought for a moment before stepping out the carriage that was already moving at the pace of a snail. He looked back at Tomas and said, "Let's walk from here. It would be much faster than waiting in this traffic." Tomas grabbed his coat and jumped out after only a moment.

Tomas looked at the driver and asked him to find a hotel for them to stay at. "Actually my lord, your father has instructed me to head back to him after I take you both to the academy. If be heading back if you are insist on walking." The carriage driver had no expression on his face as he responded to Tomas.

Tomas immediately understood that they had to depend on themselves from now on, "Alright then we'll be going now, take care."

Lucian waved a little before turning and walking away. Soon they reached the academy. The inner circle at the end of the main road, and the outermost point of the city, was where the academy was situated. It was basically over the water of the bay. The Academy was made of marble and it was even more beautiful up close. After walking through the entrance they noticed 10 tables each with what looked like a student of the academy.

"Hey. Put down your names," she gestured to a piece of parchment and they each wrote their names. She then pointed to Lucian and then Tomas, "you're number 15 093 and you're 15094. Come back tomorrow for the entry trials." With that she called out for the people behind Lucian.

Holy shit, 15000 people already registered, Lucian thought to himself. "Let's go Tomas, we can check in to one of the nearby hotels."

"Are you kidding me?" He shrieked in frustration to seemingly no one.

"Lucian it's not that big of a deal." Tomas knew it was a big deal. They had searched for at least five hours looking for a hotel and every place they went to was fully booked.

Lucian drew in a deep breath, "I guess you're right... We'll just sleep on the streets tonight huh? I mean people do it all the time. I could blame you. If you didn't get rid of the carriage, we wouldn't be in this position."

"Lucian it was your idea to –"Tomas decided it was better not to continue after Lucian sent a death glare in his direction. Right, Lucian would rather blame his mistakes on others then to admit that his decisions were bad.

While looking up and down the street, Lucian's eyes brightened. Tomas immediately knew that the glint in Lucian's eyes meant bad news for someone.

"I have an idea," Lucian began, "We're strong. Stronger than quite a few of these people. We can just commandeer a carriage." The smile on Lucian's face made him seem righteous, but the sinister way he rubbed his hands together said otherwise.

"Lucian I don't think this is a good idea. We've never done something like this before." Tomas brimmed with innocence. He'd never thought of doing something remotely bad, let alone do something that might harm others. Then again neither had Lucian.

Lucian didn't seem to pay attention to what Tomas had said, "There's a first for everything Tomas. This is a cruel world we live in, so you won't last a second acting the way you are now. So man up and let's get it done." Lucian pulled the hood of his coat over his head and picked up a thick branch from a foot of tree to his right. The branch was around thirty centimetres long and a pale brown colour. It was just light enough for Lucian to swing with one hand.

"Lucian you don't even know how the world wor-...," Tomas didn't finish his protests as he noticed Lucian was no longer at his side. A gasp escaped Tomas' mouth as he finally noticed Lucian sneaking up the road behind him.

Lucian moved quickly and silently in the shadows of the buildings. He felt great at this moment. He moved along in an awkward combination of crouching and running. Anyone that saw him would definitely think he was disabled. From behind him he could hear a shout that sounded a lot like 'Damnit Lucian, what are you doing' followed by loud footsteps. Lucian turned to Tomas and angrily whispered, "Shut up Tomas and be quiet." I said whisper but it could be heard from quite a distance away.

Tomas felt resigned but he knew there was nothing he could do. Together, hidden by shadows, they proceeded to the lone carriage parked in some bushes. As they neared they could hear the sound of a stream of liquid hitting soil. "Ahh," a voice could be heard from the bushes as the sound of dripping stopped. A man brownish teenager walked out from the bushes while pulling up his fly.

It would've felt wrong to attack him while he was doing that. Lucian gulped before running at the teenager while what sounded like a war cry poured from his mouth. Lucian leaped when he got close enough with the stick in his hand primed for attack. The boy let out a shriek of his own when he realised that Lucian was flying t him with malicious intent. He responded quickly with a thrust with his right foot straight towards Lucian's chest.

Thud. That was the sound that was heard by Tomas as the boy's foot connected with Lucian's chest. Tomas face twisted as Lucian's body flew backwards before hitting the ground and sliding for another second. Tomas was unsure of what to do.

A groan escaped Lucian's mouth as he sat up and menacingly stared at the boy. "Shit." The word seemed to drag out of his mouth. "Bastard, who asked you to kick me like that?" Lucian's expression made it seem like he was the one who was snuck upon and attacked. He was thoroughly offended.

To teen that was attacked was startled by Lucian's question. "You attacked me! What the hell were you trying to do?!" The boy's eyes filled with rage, and he grit his teeth, "I was the one who was viciously attacked and you're acting like I hurt you!"

Finally Tomas made himself known with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry about my friend there. This is just a misunderstanding. We actually wanted to meet the carriage owner but I think my friend must have thought you as someone who was trying to sneak into the carriage." Tomas tried to concoct a believable story but he was the worst when it came to lying. His story was as easily seen through like clear glass.

It wasn't seen through by the naive teenage boy though. "Ah, sorry about that. The name's Yusuf. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just expected that you would be stronger." Yusuf extended a hand to Lucian.

Lucian gripped the hand and pulled himself up. "I guess I can forgive you. You've started cultivating already; you must be a genius to already be this strong. This carriage is yours? Could you let us sleep here tonight? We'll be gone in the morning."

"I wouldn't call myself a genius. Most people our age are already at the Purple stage of the tempering realm. The real geniuses are way beyond the tempering realm."

"Uh, huh." Lucian gave a non committal response. He should've begun cultivating already but he had no interest until recently. He found the concept boring and figured he would just leave it for later in his life. He didn't realise it would leave him behind his peers.

"And you could spend the night here if you want. I don't mind. I have to get up early tomorrow so ill be heading in now. Goodnight." Yusuf walked into the carriage. Leaving Lucian and Tomas gaping at each other in mutual amazement.

Lucian looked over at Tomas, "He shouldn't be this trusting, right? He doesn't even know our names." The 'he' was named Yusuf, and only now did Tomas realize that they had not introduced themselves.

"I guess there are people like him. Anyway we should be grateful at his total disregard of caution. I doubt anyone else would have let us stay with them."

"Yeah, let's head to bed." Lucian was very tired from all the walking hey had done today. His chest still hurt, where Yusuf had kicked him, as well. The carriage had no mattress so they each slept on a different seat.