Shadows

The exit was perfect for an ambush; the alleyway the tunnel led into was barren and seemed to be devoid of any passersby. The alleyway was surprisingly wide and square. It was surrounded by what looked to be old houses that obviously weren't lived in. Although rundown and dilapidated, all of the curtains were pulled closed. Examining the immediate surroundings of the exit, it seemed the tunnel was jutting out of a hill. Anticipating a surprise attack,  I unsheathed the blade strapped to my boot and started at the exit again.

As if on cue, I felt a presence behind me as I emerged from the pipe. I immediately turned around on my guard; our blades clashed as I thwarted his sneak attack. I jumped backwards in an attempt to create space between us. My attacker was mainly dressed in rags. His mottled black, grey, and green cloak, which seemed to mimic the shadows themselves, was fastened with a bronze brooch depicting a knife stabbing through a pleading hand, which made the man only slightly stand out.

I'd honestly never seen craftsmanship like this before. He retreated backwards, throwing three daggers at me. As I sidestepped his daggers, I grabbed one of them out of the air. As his feet touched the ground, I returned his gift, catching him off guard. He dodged my attack by ducking under it as it flew by. I ran at him, a smile on my face.

"Quite nimble, I see," I said with a smile painted across my face.

After months of training with my father, I'd grown to rather enjoy fighting more vigorous opponents. The challenge and risk made my blood boil with excitement. With the twilight sun casting numerous shadows around us, making it difficult to see, I used one of the skills my father taught me. I gathered a strange force within myself; my father called this magicae, which roughly translates to life-blood in common, and focused the energy into my eyes. I suddenly saw the world clear as day up to about a hundred and fifty feet.

I then gathered magicae and focused it on the rest of my body. As I moved through my target's shadow, it felt like I was wading through a deep lake. I emerged behind my enemy and stabbed him several times in the abdomen before returning to my previous position in front of him. The man was in shock and pain; he stumbled backwards, grabbing his side and falling on his ass. I attempted to take advantage of the situation by releasing one of my throwing knives at his throat, but some uninvited guests interrupted me.

"You're really letting a kid kick your ass?" One of them told the injured assailant,

"The kid's dangerous; he has some weird ability to ‌teleport." He responded, tending to his stab wounds.

I analysed my new, unexpected enemies as we stood before each other.  In front of me stood two people dressed similarly to the guy I was chasing before. One of them carried a long metallic spear. The woman's spear was simple enough, but the wielder wore a medium obsidian breastplate with greeves to match. She was somewhat short, and in the darkness, the hood of her cloak obscured her face.

However, the brooch she wore was different. Her brooch was cast in a shiny silver and stood out quite well. Her partner was tall and slim. Complimenting his reach, he held a long rapier. Much like his colleague I was engaging earlier, his brooch wasn't silver; instead, his was also bronze. 

"Initiate, you're next up," blurted the woman with the spear. The Initiate readied himself by pointing the tip of his rapier towards my throat and unsheathing a small dagger from his belt, assuming the True Gaurd stance with his rapier aimed at my through and his dagger in a more defensive position. 

I threw another blade to distract him as I closed the distance between us. I intended to close the distance rapidly to potentially have the upper hand. My opponent intercepted my thrown blade with an upward movement of his rapier, leaving his left side exposed. As I jabbed at his exposed flank, he attacked me, kneeing me in my face as I got close. I could feel the blood trickling from my now broken nose.

I wiped it away, beginning my next attack. I threw a flurry of kicks at him. My last kick caught him in the face. He followed the momentum of his body and performed a spinning hook kick. The leather of his boot packed no padding as his foot connected with the side of my head. My head was throbbing with pain from the force of his kick. I'd never been kicked full force in the face before; my ear was ringing from being kicked in the ear. I grabbed my cheek with my free hand out of reflex. Now having a slight distance between us, he employed the use his rapier, thrusting his blade at me in a tornado of attacks.

On his last thrust, I spun around his arm, putting myself on his outside flank. In a last-ditch attempt to catch him off guard, I gathered magicae, moulding it into spikes. A spell rune formed before my hand as three beams of light shot at my target. He jerked as three holes, one after the other, burrowed themselves into his body. I could feel the exhaustion building up after casting so many spells. As I was then, I could only manage to cast about three to four spells a day before passing out from exhaustion.

My hands fell to my knees briefly as I caught my breath. My opponent slumped to the ground, dead. The silver-pinned cloak approached her dead companion and poked his carcass with her spear.

"Nasty spell, that is." She sighed with a smirk in a disappointed tone. "You just cost me two recruits half-elf." The woman said matter-of-factly. "I've been training them up for months now. Oh well." She stopped and looked at me, "Y'know, with skills like that, you could be real useful." I stood up straight as I had finally caught my breath.

"Are we going to fight, or will you just talk me to death?" I asked as I raised my guard.

"Now, grasshopper, there's more to the world than fisticuffs."

"What?" I responded, confused.

"What I mean is grasshopper, why don't we converse for a while before you leave." The woman slung her spear on her back before crossing her arms.

"Don't you want revenge for your fallen comrade? I did make pretty quick work of him." I pressed in an attempt to instigate her into fighting me.

"That you did." The mysterious woman reached into her pocket and pulled out my student identification badge. "Farrin Vaelinwood, age 20, from Bayside Village."

"How the fuck did you get that!" I fumbled in my pocket in confusion for my plaque.

"Wait, Bayside, I hear the fishcakes there are wonderful." She then tossed my plaque back to me. "I just wanted your name, Mr Vaelinwood." 

My name was the last thing I heard before feeling my body go numb and waking up in the student dorms.