The Unusual Beginning

Gray clouds floated in the air lazily, dropping snow on the earth below at a glacial pace. The whole mountain top felt still and peaceful, even the cars traveling on the mountain road moved at a lackadaisical pace. Among these cars, was a long black limousine. And within that limousine, sat what was quite possibly the most powerful man in the entire country. He wasn't much to look at, with his pale and spindly limbs and light frame, but there was much more to this man than a simple look could tell.

This man was Victor Crowe. He dressed well, wearing a black suit and a purple tie, and his silvery hair was tied back in a ponytail and Victor appeared to be in his late thirties to early forties. He leaned back in his seat, and stared at the velvet lined roof of the car. While he stared, Victor quickly came to realize that he was bored out of his mind. This vacation was supposed to be relaxing, but in the end, he'd only been restless and anxious to return to his school.

"Tch." Victor clicked his tongue as he sat forwards and tried to think of something, anything, again. Nothing. His mind was totally blank.

"Concord, could you roll down the window for me?" Victor said, his nasal voice cracking after hours of not speaking.

"Yes, sir." Came the driver's response.

Victor rolled down the window and stared down the mountain. They were high enough that a normal person would only be able to see the trees beneath as a blur of green, but Victor could see every single one in perfect detail.

Once again, nothing caught his interest. He could see deer frolicing about in a small clearing, mountain lions stalking their prey and a teenager fighting a massive wolf with a sword and shield. Wait, a teenager fighting a giant wolf with a sword and shield?

Victor blinked hard and looked again. Of course his eyes hadn't deceived him. There was in fact a rather short boy facing off against a gigantic wolf.

"Concord, I've seen something intriguing. Please take the car back to the school. I'll join you shortly." Victor said, as he gathered his coat and cane and opened the car door, slipping out of it and closing it behind him all in one fluid motion, only to disappear in a flash of purple sparks before his feet even touched the ground.

"Hmph. What a child." Concord said as he rolled up the window and pressed on with the long trip home.

Down at ground level, things were much more serious then the short attention span of a middle aged man. Kalem Axel was currently involved in the fight of his life, and he was certain that he was losing. In front of him, stood a four meter tall and six meter long wolf with massive fangs and claws to match, that was currently staring him down with glowing yellow eyes. Behind him, was a wall of trees much too dense to flee through, effectively leaving him high and dry.

The wolf, or an Apex, as it was called, swung its massive claws at Kalem, who dove to the left and scampered away. Apex's claws shattered the stone where the boy had just been standing, creating a crater a meter deep and across with what the boy assumed was a mere fraction of this monster's power.

With a defiant shout, Kalem rushed in, darting between the beast's paws and striking the back of it's leg with his sword, only for his blade to bounce off of the monster's fur, sparks flying where he'd struck it.

The wolf snorted, as if to laugh at the boy's downright pathetic attempt at hurting it. It darted back and then swung its paw at him, aiming to squash him flat. Kalem realized that he did not have time to react, as the Apex was much faster than he'd expected, and raised his shield, in a last ditch attempt to avoid being splattered.

The paw struck the boy like a speeding truck, and knocked him several meters away. He landed hard, but was shocked to find himself in one piece. He looked down, to see gray energy crackling over his skin, healing the damage he took from the strike. The wolf snarled in his direction, and turned to see that he was still alive.

Kalem chuckled nervously and raised his shield again. He hadn't expected his aether to survive a hit from the Apex, nor was he sure about what he had left in him. No matter what, Kalem knew he had to keep his foe as far away from him as possible. Furthermore, now that he knew he could take a hit, he knew he had a chance to win. He'd just have to find an opening to use that.

The Apex sprinted forwards, moving like a blur of darkness, blotting out the light around it as it ran. Kalem took a deep breath, and his aether flared, gray light shining from his body for a few seconds, before fading away, leaving only lines of energy one his skin, a faint gray glow coming from each line. Suddenly, numerous silver levins shot around the boy, shaping themselves into swords and instantly transforming into cold, hard, steel. With another call from the boy, the swords fired forwards like missiles, blurring towards the Apex at nigh invisible speeds!

The swords struck the wolf, each of them bouncing off of the beast's coat, doing nothing more than showering the cold earth with sparks. Kalem rolled out of the beast's path and more swords formed, and volley after volley followed, each shot glancing off of the wolf, which became angrier and angrier with the teen with each passing shot. The sparks were too intense to see through, and the noise made it too hard to focus on the boy. Kalem wormed around the battlefield, maneuvering ever closer to the Apex with each volley of blades.

Finally, the volleys stopped, Kalem having spent all the aether he could allow. The Apex was still in top shape, save for a few lucky shots resulting in tiny lacerations, that were more like paper cuts to the great beast then actual damage. Instantly, the great wolf spun on its heels and turned to Kalem, who stood without any weapons, his sword and shield on opposite sides of the arena, no doubt knocked away in his assault.

"Yeah, I'm all out of tricks. You win." Kalem conceded to the great beast, holding open his hands to truly show that he held nothing. The Apex snarled, but then showed its teeth in what could have been the canine equivalent to a grin. Then, the Apex lunged, jaws wide, intent to devour the troublesome boy.

"Well, except for one… Twisted Sword: Caldabog!" Kalem exclaimed, a bolt of gray lightning flashing between his hands as a meter long sword appeared in his hands, the hilt long and guard triangular, with the blade itself twisted tight like a screw. He thrust the blade forwards, into the wolf's gaping maw, the twisted point piercing the tongue and holding fast. The wolf screamed, and jumped back, shaking its head to try and dislodge the sword. The sword began to glow, and cracks spider webbed across the blade and guard and hilt, and with a great shriek, the sword shattered, releasing its terrible effect.

The very space where the sword had been began to twist, taking the wolf's jaws with it, flipping them inside out, snapping and turning the bones and flesh into their new shape. The wolf's eyes widened in agony, and it tried to scream, but with its tongue and vocal cords now exposed to the open air, it could make no sound. It thrashed about, trying to reverse the effect, but no such relief came. With a final silent, agonized shriek, the Apex fell to the ground, and did not move. Its breathing slowed, and finally stopped.

"Ugh." Kalem said as he looked down on the fallen beast, its body slowly decaying into dark liquid, which seeped into the ground. He never liked using that sword, and was more shocked that it hadn't broken on contact. His constructs were rarely ever that high quality, but was thankful that he hadn't been caught in the weapon's area of effect. It would have been a nasty way to go.

He went about collecting his sword, but when he turned to go and collect his shield, Kalem saw that it was right behind him, being held out to him by someone.

"Shit! Who the hell?!" Kalem exclaimed, raising his sword towards the man.

"The name's Victor. Victor Crowe. And I'm sorry for surprising you, but I felt that I should help you somehow." The spindly man who stood before him handed Kalem the shield, who took it and lowered his sword.

"...Thanks, I guess. Don't you run a school or something? Uh, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here, or how?" Kalem sheathed the sword as he spoke. He figured that this guy didn't want to hurt him, as if he could simply appear out of nowhere like that, he could have done so already.

"I do in fact run a school. And I'm here to ask you to join me in our upcoming semester. I happened to see the climax of your battle with that wolf, and you impressed me. As for how… that's really not important." Victor grinned like a child who had just seen an action movie.

Kalem nodded, accepting the answer until a chilling realization struck him. Victor said he'd watched him fight the wolf, and he seemed like he was more than capable of helping, if not beating it easily.

"Hang on a second! I almost died back there! Why didn't you help me?!" Kalem growled. Victor's smile didn't falter.

"Ah, you seemed to have it under control. Don't worry, if I didn't think you could handle that thing, I'd have stepped in."

Kalem nodded, and something about the man's eyes told him that he was being truthful.

"I'd love to join you, but I don't know if I can. For one, I never applied, and I don't think that I have the grades and most certainly don't have the money." Kalem explained, scratching the back of his head as he talked. However, Victor's smile didn't waver in the slightest.

"Oh, that's fine. I can easily get you in. After all, I am the Headmaster."

"All right. I'll go. There isn't much left for me here anyway."

"I see. Crowe is a live-in school, so I do have to get permission from your parents or guardian, assuming you aren't your own guardian, that is."

"I am now, yes. Do I need to do anything?"

"Other than to gather your stuff and move out? No."

"I see. When do I need to be ready?"

"Next week. As for your next question, that being where, take a plane to Lord's Haven."

Kalem nodded and thanked the headmaster, who disappeared how he came, in a flash of purple sparks. He began the long trip down the mountain, ready to move on to the next chapter of his life.