Don the Strategist

Don cursed as he leaped carefully upon a roof, when he landed atop of a building, he continued strutting. The black clouds ate the sky slowly, it casted a heavy shadow upon the town, turning it slightly dim. Lightning slapped the air and roared a thunderous clap, the scene muddled his senses.

Don's eyes widened when the middle class demon was within his sight, it had a black tattered cloak and a robe that fluttered mightily, the demon rode upon a horse that seemed to be a carcass, it had a dried gaping wound on its rib, most of its skin had peeled off, the bones on its snout started to show. Despite looking like a corpse the horse was well and kicking, the undead horse strolled with its hooves clapping the stone slabbed path.

It was just below Don, his lips shivered in fear, luckily the demon hasn't seem to notice him yet. He peeked over the border of the roof, allowing his eyes to assess the road below. And behind the demon was a woman tied up in chains, she was mounted behind the demon like a baggage. Don peeked over the border of the roof, slowly lifting his head, allowing his eyes to assess the road at its full.

It was definitely Rean, the portal mage that was being pursued by the demons, as Don recognized. Rean seemed to be sleeping as she dangled upon the horse. It will be the doom of the townhall once she gets to use her teleportation ability. Don continued observing the gaiting horse. He can't believe that she was captured, by the demons.

In a sudden the horse ceased its hooves, the demon halted as though it realized something just now, it turned its head upon the roof and a blinding light from a lightning showered upon the town.

Don hid behind the rim of the roof and crouched on time, he panted heavy and luckily hid himself before the demon casted his glare. Don sweated as though it was hot, and if he was seen by the demon's bloody tinged eyes it could mean him death.

He calmed himself, and quickly thought of solutions. "Damn it, I can't get swayed by emotions, think, think." He gritted his teeth.

Don ended up sighing. "Yeah, screw it." He stood back up, currently, if he were to allow the demon to arrive on the townhall, blood of the innocents will be poured. When he gazed upon the demon's back drifting away, he fell once again on his knees, one quick look drained away most of his confidence.

Don sneered. "Damn it! After all those years I'm still a coward!" He fisted the iron roof he leaned upon.

***

Three and a half years ago in the academy of the Kingdom of Thesur.

Inside a cafeteria, was the mage students who ambled around with their food and plates over their arms. Despite the mixed utters of the people on his environment, Don felt he was in a void, all alone in the defeaning silence of his imagination. The people passing by were no different than a cardboard cutouts, they were just a lifeless talking pumpkins that rambled nonesense.

There were several broad tables strewn around the place, most of them were occupied by the students while the one on the corner was still empty. His bored eyes gazed upon one, then he proceeded and bought some meals. He took a seat and started eating, his gaze alone repulsed most of the students who wanted to sit besides him.

Then the students from the other table gave him a weird glance, they stared at him as though he did something wrong.

"Didn't you hear, he used to live from the Empire?" One said.

"Ah, that evil country, why would King Herdan allow him to enroll on this academy, the king is being nonsensical." Another muttered.

"I understand why we should accept Miss Celina, I mean, she will be useful in the future since she's the last light mage. But what are we going to benefit from this coward, who retreated during the exams and left his teammates to fail, geez." Another added.

Don clenched his fist and continued eating. "You people don't understand shit." He said under his raging breath.

Then the utters in the cafeteria were forced to become silent, with Don curious he checked what was going on.

Radmun pranced through the room like he owned the place, he was accompanied by several tough looking students. Radmun grinned as he glowered upon the students he passed by.

"Tsk, its those thugs again, I hope the school will kick them out." One from the other table said.

Then a noise were being emanated, "Hey don't hurt me, I'll tell the teachers." One student said worriedly.

Radmun groped a student's cloth and drew him close to his cheeky face. "Hahaa, if you don't want to get hurt you better tell your friends to scram." He said brazenly upon the table.

The students on the table that Radmun wants to occupy had concerned faces.

The other students around Radmun glared upon him, but Radmun was undettered and continued his arrogant attitude. Upon sensing the glares of the students around him, he scowled upon them. "Huh? Got a problem with that?" He spat.

They pulled their eyes away and sneered. "What an asshat." Said a girl.

Radmun threw the student on his grip away and it caused the student to stagger backward, he shook his head as though to trace the voice. "Who the hell said that?!"

His goons calmed him down. "Radmun we shouldn't escalate the situation, let's just force these one to scram." He pointed upon the filled table they want to occupy.

One student sprang up from his seat. "There many empty seats here, why do you have to get this one?"

Radmun laughed upon him. "Idiot, this table here is our turf, look there's a mark of our gang." He pointed upon a tatoo on the surface of the table, scribbled from a black paint.

The students angrily complied in silence and then left their seats. Radmun snickered as they occupied the chairs, the boiling glances of the others didn't bother him, he just grinned haughtily and ignored them. "Hey we're missing one member any of you fools wants to join us?" His voice resounded through out the cafeteria.

It was answered by an awkward silence.

"They are the reason why the world has so many problems, tsk." One whispered from the crowd.

"Hmph, no matter how much they try those thugs are gonna fail with that attitudes." Another whispered.

No matter how low their whisper was, Don heard them all.

Radmun grunted. "None eh?" He sprang up then sifted his eyes throughout the place, then he saw one student brooding on the corner. "Hey you." He pointed over to Don.

Don gave his cold eyes to him while he remained in silence.

Radmun grinned as he left his seat and then he sauntered to Don's side, his friends he was with went with him. "You, I assume your name is Don right? You became a talk of this place."

Don hasten his eating pace. "What do you want?" He said with a serious tone.

Radmun snickered. "Join us, as it happens I'm lacking one member on my team, because on the next exam we will need five members."

His friend behind him tapped his shoulder. "Are you okay about this Radmun? This guy is from the empire." He said close to Radmun's ear.

Radmun chuckled. "Idiot, even if he came from Xerdigs we don't discriminate, we really need a team mate right now."

Don breathed a little bit as he paused munching his meal, at the moment he knew he had no team since his previous team abandoned him. When he observed the thugs he had a low judgement of their characters, but he was left with no choice. He might fail on the next exam if he couldn't decide a team for himself by tomorrow. "Fine, but I have several conditions, I'm gonna wear the flag, and formulate the plan."

Radmun smiled. "There is always one plan, do our best and fight them head on."

Don sighed. "Idiot, this one is far better than that."

Then they got interrupted when several steps rained down from behind, and it approached them.

"It's him Levan." One student behind him said.

An arm gripped tight upon Radmun's shoulder, Radmun got spun and then he faced a burly, bald student whose rigid face struggled to scowl. And one thing was for sure he was pissed.

Levan was one of his classmates, he was talented, somewhat kind hearted but fierce when the situation calls for it, he also had one of the best abilities, he often protects his classmates when they get into trouble.

"Listen you thugs, did you bully him?" Levan pointed at the student he harassed earlier.

Radmun tottered backwards as he gulped, however he feigned to be tough since many stares were being laid upon them, he can't chicken out now. He cleared his throat. "It was his fault he didn't wanna move."

Radmun's clothes got gripped tight and was yanked close to Levan's face who held a tight stare. "Listen punks, I won't hit you since I don't wanna stoop on your level, but on the next exam I'll clobber your ass. With your members and skills you have no hope of winning, it's better if you drop from your class you would be doing us a big favor. You have no future here." Levan said as he glowered upon his team members.

Radmun got shoved outwards only to be caught by his friends. He sighed as he stared back upon Levan. "When I become a Pillar someday, I'll spit on your face " He hissed.

"Forget being a Pillar if you can't even pass an exam. As far as I remember you fools mistook your comrade as an enemy and sent him to the clinic, what a good joke." Levan scoffed.

The other students on the sides had judgemental glares that pierced them, then the entire room let out a heavy laugh.

Radmun clenched his fist, he turned his head to the crowd. "What are you laughing at you morons!" His friends grabbed his shoulder.

"Radmun I think we should leave here." His friend whispered on his ear.

Levan stared down at them. "See you at the exams, punks." He then turned and trailed off.

Don calmly sighed upon seeing the things that unfurled before his eyes. "Hey Radmun, settle down and relax. Don't worry I have a plan that will rise our rate of winning from thirty percent to eighty percent." He said.

Radmun had a skeptical look. "What kind of plan is that?"

Don smirked, right now Radmun and his friends and along with himself there were now five in total. After having a team, he can now rest easy.

Thankfully the mechanics for the exam was already given to them thus he had time to formulate for a plan.

"Any of you specialized on nature magic?" Don said.

One nodded and stepped forward. "I can manipulated woods and leaves, but I still need some practice."

Don smiled. "That's good enough, how about summoning."

Another stepped forward and rose his arm. "I can summon slime creature."

"Really? Can it transform into anything?" Don said.

He nodded as a response, which caused the Don to reveal a grin. "Perfect, we can top this exam."

Radmun sighed, he came forward and jolted his shoulder. "Hey can we beat the best team?"

Don turned around with a sated smile. "If course, just see me on the exam day, and don't be late." He said, then strutted off.

Radmun scratched his head with a worried look.

"Hey Radmun do you think we have a chance to pass this exam?" One of his friends said.

Radmun forced a smile. "Of course, there's no way we are gonna lose, ha ha ha."

His friends didn't share the confidence he had. "You always say that before we flunk our exams." One said with a disappointed tone.