2 Moonbeam Academy

Inside the mess hall, Adrion grabbed a tray, took a serving of eggs, bacon, and a roll, and then went to his usual table. There, he saw yet another amusing sight in front of him in the form of his two friends, Draco the half-dragon, and Elm the night elf, having one of their ridiculous arguments.

"For the last time," Elm said, "The bacon is already cooked! So, stop breathing fire on it, lizardbrain! It's a surprise you haven't already turned it into a blackened stick!"

"One can never be too careful, Elm." Draco calmly replied, blowing another ember of flame onto his bacon platter. As a half-dragon, Draco could have passed for a human at a distance, but get closer and one would see the more draconic physical features. In Draco's case they were sharp teeth, scales like freckles on his face, and a large pair of wings on his back to top it off. Other half-dragons might have tails, claws, or any other combination of the before mentioned traits. Elm, being a night elf, had the pointed ears that all elves had, but she also had the lighter skin and stark, white hair that night elves usually had.

Adrion had met the two early in his time at Moonbeam Academy and the three became close ever since despite their differing personalities: Draco's eagerness for a fight, which led to his studying combat magic, Elm's eccentricity and calculating demeanor, and Adrion's quick wittedness and cautious spirit.

"Elm, you're being too commanding again," Adrion said, sitting down, "Just let the man eat. We gotta get to class soon anyways."

Draco smiled, "Another last minute save from the wizard, as usual." he said, finishing off his bacon, making sure to blowtorch each one before eating it. Elm just grunted and went back to her own food. She hated being interrupted in an argument, but Adrion had a point and she knew it.

A short while later, a horn sounded in the mess hall from one of the watchtowers, signaling that it was time to start classes. All of the students began to file out of the building and retrieve their dragons from the stables and head out to class. Before that, however, they had to stack their trays on a shelf near the door, where afterwards, cleaning griffins would eat any remains and then leave the trays to the water nymphs, who would finish cleaning them.

Once Adrion had stacked his tray, he went to find Rhogar, who was waiting near the stable entrance, having finished his own meal. Much to the servants' relief, dragons eat all of their food and do not use dishes, making them the easiest to clean up after. Once Rhogar was let out of the stables, Adrion mounted onto his back and the two soared off towards Adrion's first, and favorite, class of the day: Fire magic.

The four arenas that the students practiced in were completely terraformed to match their particular element. In the case of fire magic, students trained in what came to be known as the Fire Pit. The floor was made of black, volcanic rock with a circular lava pool in the center. To top it off, flame geysers were scattered throughout the arena, occasionally spouting flames without warning. Many students had temporarily had hair or eyebrows singed off due to unwittingly standing near one of these geysers.

Rhogar, along with a few other dragons, flew in through an opening at the top of the dome and landed on the safe outer circle of the room where the student's dragons resided. Here, Adrion dismounted and went to join the other students. They were as diverse as the dragons that they rode. Some were human, like Adrion, but he also saw a few elves in the mix: Night elves with their white hair, and Wood elves with their more rugged, ranger-like outfits. High elves also existed, but they preferred things like healing magic and never bothered themselves with "primitive" things like elemental magic. A few half-dragons of all different shapes and sizes were in the group as well.

Other humanoid species did exist on Pandreia, but they either kept to themselves, like the Lizardmen tribes, did not need to train at any of the academies, like the artificial Iron Knights, or were the enemies of all the other peoples like the orcs and Snake tribes. In, fact, the purpose of the academies was to train students to fight such enemies.

Adrion took his seat next to a group of Wood elves just as the instructor, a fire wizard named Flannery, entered ad greeted the students.

When Adrion had started studying at Moonbeam, he never thought he would have a teacher that he enjoyed learning from, then he started Flannery's class. Like the other elemental teachers, she believed in learning through doing. However, what made her so exciting to Adrion was that not only was she more energetic, but she also had the students battle each other in the arena once they had learned a certain number of spells. Adrion loved those days.

"Alright students!" Flannery shouted, "I hope you all remember what you have learned in the past few days, cause it's time for another test in the ring!"

This was it. Arena Day. Adrion should have seen it coming; Flannery always had that mischievous smirk before she started talking on these days as well as that fiery glint in her eyes. The excitement began to show in the other students as well as they began excitedly whispering amongst each other, talking of old rivalries to settle from previous duels.

"Same rules apply," Flannery continued, "disarm or knock out your opponent to win. Any spell learned in this class at any time is fair game so long as it is fire-based of course. However, today is going to be a bit different than usual."

"How so?" asked one of the Wood elves.

"You'll find out," Flannery replied, "So, who would like to go first?"

The elf who had asked the question quickly stood up to volunteer, just as Adrion did the same. Flannery took notice of his and chuckled: "Eager, I see. Gotta love that!" Then, looking between the two, "Adrion, how bout you try this time?"

Adrion excitedly ran into the arena, but then hesitated; he was the only one called up.

"Uhhh, question." he said, "Aren't I supposed to fight someone?"

Flannery got that mischievous look on her face: "Oh, you will be fighting, just not one of the students, That's the surprise." Then, she slammed her staff into the ground. Suddenly, the ground started to shake in the arena, and a massive iron hand burst out of the floor, followed by multiple iron limbs and body parts, assembling themselves until a 9-foot-tall suit of armor filled with flames stood.

WHAT?! A Fire Golem!? Adrion thought, Are you kidding me? Where did she even get that?! He had read about golems in his Pandriean Creatures class; they were one of the few non-draconic elemental creatures that existed. They were dangerous, but they weren't exactly the smartest creatures, which led to them being controlled by just about anyone who knew how to do it. Somehow, Flannery managed to control this one.

Adrion wanted to ask her for any possible tips on how to defeat the creature, but before he could, she yelled, "Begin!" and the golem charged, giving Adrion mere seconds to conjure a fire shield to stop the iron fist aimed at him. As the fist hit the shield, the force of the impact knocked Adrion back a few feet, dissipating the shield in the process. As he got back up, he had just enough time to see the golem summon a fireball and throw it at him, which he barely managed to dodge. He shot a stream of fire from his staff in an attempt to distract it, but the flames didn't even seem to faze the creature.

Adrion then continued to run around the arena, simultaneously dodging fireballs and mentally running through what he knew about golems for a possible weakness. Let's see, Golems are slow, but me being faster isn't gonna cut it. What else? Just then he noticed the golem take another step as a flame geyser shot near its feet, causing it to stumble around for a few minutes. Adrion then remembered something: golems have high centers of gravity and can get tripped very easily. He quickly looked at the golem, now having regained its balance, and then at the lava pool in the center of the arena, which was also behind the golem. That's it! he thought. Readying his staff, he faced the golem and taunted: "That the best you got, you walking trash can!"

Now angered, the fire golem launched another fireball, but this time, Adrion was ready. Instead of dodging, he deflected the projectile off of his staff, sending it back into the golem, which caused it to stumble back. Taking the opportunity, Adrion then summoned and launched his own fireballs from his staff; he was not going to give the brute another chance to recover. Finally, after a final shot to the head, the golem tipped backwards and fell straight into the lava pool. As the last of the golem disappeared under the lava, Adrion heard the sound of the other students clapping for him.

"Bravo! Well done, young Highstar!" Flannery shouted. She was beaming with pride that her students were learning so well. Adrion could only nod as he went back to his seat; the amount of energy from running and spellcasting wore him out and he was drenched in sweat from the heat. As he greedily drank from the water bottle offered to him, an animal cry suddenly echoed from the roof as a griffin flew in from the dome entrance. Flannery's dragon, a fire serpent named Zukar, swooped in to intercept the visitor.

"What do you want, featherhead?" he said.

"A visitor has arrived!" the griffin squawked, "He's looking for one of the students!"

"Which one?"

The griffin looked around at the students, passing each one over until he came across Adrion.

"That one! He wants that one." it cried.

Zukar followed the griffin's gaze: "Him? Are you absolutely sure?"

The griffin looked annoyed: "Yes, he is the one whose picture the headmaster showed me when he sent me to look for him. Are you questioning my ability?"

Zukar grunted. Griffins were renowned for their incredible photographic memory, so there was no point in questioning.

"Well then," Flannery said, "Off you go, Adrion. Sorry to have you leave so soon. You did very well though"

Adrion nodded his thanks, than went to go mount on Rhogar, who then promptly took off after the griffin ,flying outside the Fire Pit and towards the Headmaster's tower.