Chapter 9: A Lesson in Letting the Imagination Take Flight

Seth

 Seth dreamed that night of demons chasing him through the streets of a city, him getting caught on a fence and thinking he didn't want the descending claw to hit him. A shield sprang up between him and the claw of pure light.

 Seth then awoke in the bed of his new room in his new house and he realized once again that what he dreamed had indeed happened. But why had he dreamed of only that part of the dream. And a shield hadn't been what he'd perceived the shield to be. To him it had only been a blast of light. Seth sat up and looked around yawning. Then he realized an alarm was going off. He looked to his bedside table and realized there was a clock in the on it. He didn't remember seeing it there before but he put that behind him. It was now 5:00 am in the morning and he had to prepare himself to begin his training. Seth didn't know what to expect so he just got ready in the clothes he had been wearing the previous day. Clothes that seemed to be freshly cleaned, an observation further proved a by the smell of laundry detergent that wasn't present the day before. It smelled of freshly peeled oranges.

 Then Seth remembered the sword his mother had gifted him with the night before and her warning never to leave home without it. So Seth strapped the blade Sonfang to his side and with another quick look at the time he left his room.

 Seth ate a quick breakfast of buttered toast and a glass of orange juice. It was funny seeing so many modern comforts in a fantasy like world but if a world like the one Seth currently resided in existed beside the real world for as long as it did then it world make sense for it to pick up some commodities like the refrigerator or a toaster. Seth noticed his mom had already left the house but to go where he had no idea. So after Seth was done eating he made sure he had what he needed then he set out for the Colosseum.

 The streets with in the city even in the morning were full of people going about, Stores opening, bread baking, metal pounding, kids playing and much more. No one seemed to be paying him much attention which was okay with Seth he didn't care for a lot of people staring at him. Seth had a quiet and uninterrupted walk to the Colosseum so he had time to think. While Seth made his way down streets and side passages that led in the direction of his destination he went over the last two days in his head, the events that had transpired and the people that he had met. Slowly Seth admitted to himself that this was his new life. And it had already proved more exciting that his normal life.

 As Seth finally arrived at the Colosseum, he had to find his breath, the place was enormous and yet it resembled the Roman Colosseum almost exactly except that it was bigger, wasn't in ruins, was made out of white glowing stone that wasn't marble or quartz and, and it looked a whole lot newer. Seth checked to make sure his sword was at his side and then after taking a deep breath Seth went toward the huge double door entrance. As Seth got closer, the Colosseum just seemed to get bigger until Seth was almost looking directly up at the doors. There were people coming in and out of the building, almost all were in the same white armor that Seth had already encountered. The world as Seth knew it had definitely changed but now it was time Seth got used to it. He sighed and entered the Colosseum. There were many paths leading off to different directions all of them had signs above them.

 Seth scanned the signs for clues on where he was supposed to be going. The paths and hallways were numbered one through fifty it seemed. Seth finally spotted a sign that said "Recruit Training in arena Forty-Six." So Seth headed down that path. He looked at his watch it was five fifty-six Seth had four minutes to reach his destination. Seth picked up the pace until finally he entered a room where several guys and girls his age were putting on a set of white leather armor. The room looked like the locker rooms back in the normal world they even had lockers with the benches sitting next to them. The lockers were arranged in a circle in the middle of the room with the wooden benches around them. And standing at the lockers were about five or six people. "These must be the other recruits," Seth thought to himself. Seth looked and spotted an empty locker, that must be his. Seth went over to it and opened it up. Inside was a leather chest-plate just like the over some thick leather gauntlets and greave to go over his shins. Seth hurriedly put on the armor and when he noticed the others standing at attention on the other side of the lockers he rushed to join them. 

 He got in line and began to look over the other recruits. Now that he could see them properly he could tell that quite a few of them were younger than he was and looked to be quite nervous. They all had various weapons at their sides. Spears, swords, some weird looking spears that had steel shafts with large curved blades on the end, tridents, daggers, Seth even saw a gun of two. The one at the front of the line was the only one who didn't seem nervous. He was older than the rest about Seth's age and he carried a small dual sided hammer with a broad head on one side a long handle and them a sharp but thick wedge on the other side. The handle was decorated with a design traced in gold that looked like leaves in full bloom. As Seth was studying him he must've felt Seth looking at him because he looked over at him and smiled. Seth immediately liked him, and it wasn't just because the guy had smiled at him He had an aura about him that made one feel like you could trust him.

 Just as Seth was about to say hello a sharp voice called out.

 "Attention!" Everyone immediately snapped vertical like they were made out of wood. Heads and eyes forward, shoulders squared, and backs straight. In through the door in front of them walked Stratos Bannot the guy who had brought Seth to the Academy. As he entered there was a wave of surprised whispering going around and Seth could tell that Strat didn't normally teach classes. Seth watched as Strat cleared his voice.

 "Okay recruits today I'll be your instructor and let me tell you today might scare you. It's not going to be how you normally train. The leaders of the Academy have decided that your training is progressing too slow so I'm here to speed it up and give you the tools you'll need to survive on the battlefield. We have been fighting for three years now with Zach Warstroff and his hordes and now word's come in of some even more disturbing events, ones that puts the Academy Lands; even all of Elementia in danger and we need you to be ready."

 "So today when you enter the arena you will be each facing a new challenge. You will be expected to fight together with your fellow agents to protect yourselves against agents that will be serving as an enemy unit. Now I know some of you are very new to this so I will give you a clue on how to use your abilities. You must visualize what you want the power within you to do just as you would visualize when reading a book or picturing a place you've never seen. Your imagination is the key. Remember that, look out for your fellow agents, and always stay vigilant and you will do fine."

 Seth heard someone clear their throat in preparation to talk and he noticed the guy he was looking at before had a confused look on his face.

 "Yes Matt you have a question?" Strat asked facing the guy. The guy named Matt flicked an uncertain gaze around before going on.

 "Um Yes sir I would like to ask you, what is the purpose of this exercise?" Strat looked thoughtful at this like trying to decide what he should say.

 "Let's just say you may have to see combat sooner than we expected." At these word Seth noticed an nervous even concerned look in Strat's eyes that made Seth think that there was definitely something bad going on. Why else would they be so in a hurry to get the training sped up. "Well good luck out there and know this, there is a lot more riding on you than you know. Dismissed."

 Seth followed the rest of the recruits out the door and up a ramp toward another set of doors. Then Matt halted them and looked back at the recruits.

 "Listen," he said. I don't know what we're facing or how many but I do know that General Stratos seems to be putting a lot of trust in us so let's not fail him. Now before we go out there I think we should all introduce ourselves to our newest member of our team." He looked back at Seth as did the rest of the recruits.

 "But before we do that maybe you should introduce yourself." Seth looked down at first trying to not look embarrassed but probably failed.

 "My name is Seth Malcovitch. It's good to meet you," He said quickly. There were some whispers at the mention of his last name even Matt seemed to look surprised. "So you're the one who came from the other world," he exclaimed. "The one who caused such a fuss when you came from the Normal world as it's called." This confused Seth.

 "What do you mean I came from the Normal World? Didn't all of you come from there as well?" Matt shook his head a small smile played on his lips, "No we were all born and raised here in the Elemental world," he said. "I was born in the Air Academy. I have powers over the air."

 "There are other Academies like this one!?" Seth said in wonder.

 "Oh yeah there are several more. Each with a different element at it's command."

 "Then shouldn't you be taught by them instead of by someone who uses a different power?" Matt seemed amused by this like he'd been asked this question often. "I was taught to use my own power but it's different when you're in a squad of people who all use different powers. We have to learn to work together so that our abilities complement one another; that is why I'm here. There are many in the Lightforce Academy who are from different Academies and they are sent here from all the different Academies to learn to work together with the others."

 "Oh," Seth replied.

 "As we were saying the next one in line after me is." He pointed to a girl that must've been younger than Seth by a year or so. She was of short stature and was clearly of Asian birth, with long black hair that seemed to flow down her back to about the small of the back. She wore armor like everyone else except on her it seemed to be misplaced as if she were more adept at reading a book or gossiping than she would be at combat. But her eyes told a different story, there was a deep sadness within her that made her seem more mature, more... cold. It was a development that interested Seth. Seth couldn't help but look away when she stared at him with her piercing green eyes. Eyes that seemed to see right through him.

 She studied him up and down and stepped out of line to stand in front of him. She thrusted out her hand at him. "Aria," she introduced.

 "Seth," Seth replied shaking her hand, then feeling very stupid for repeating his name after he had already told them all.

 "Nice to meet you. Hope you'll be good on the battlefield."

 "Likewise," Seth replied. She raised her eyebrows at this but said nothing. She stepped back. And another girl stepped forward. She was a foot taller than Seth and had to be at least twenty years old. She had the athlete's body that Seth was beginning to suspect was typical of these people. She had bright red hair and eyes and was sporting the world's most jagged dagger. The dagger which she had strapped horizontally to her back at the waist using a back sheath, was about the size of Seth's forearm, straight but more crooked than a lightning bolt. The blade itself was only about as wide as two thumbs put side by side together. It was made from a blueish metal that had a tint of gold in it. The girl looked him over as well before putting out her hand.

 "Clara is my name I already know yours. Just try not to be a bother to us out there eh? We've been working hard to get assigned to go after the elemental gems." Seth shook her hand then looked inquisitively at her.

 "Elemental gems?" he asked. At this she sighed like Seth had asked a stupid question and opened her mouth to answer but Matt stopped her.

 "We'll tell you later, right now it's time to start our test. Whatever it may be." Then Matt turned to face all of them. "Okay since we don't know what we're up against why don't we group up in teams of two." The others nodded their agreement. "The plan is no matter what happens stick to your teammate at all time don't allow yourselves to separated. No matter what happen. Understand." Again, everybody nodded.

 "I'll take Seth since he's the newcomer and all the rest of you I assume will be able to pick your own teammates, right?" "So, form up two columns standing shoulder to shoulder with your partner." They complied with Seth now standing at the front right next to Matt.

 There was a creaking sound punctuated by a jingle of chains as the doors began to open. As they were opening Matt leaned over and whispered in Seth's ear. "We'll finish the rest of the introductions after this."

 "Uh, okay," Seth replied not sure of what else to say. Then the doors had finished opening and Seth could see they were about to enter an arena. The arena wasn't as big as Seth had been expecting but he could tell it was basically designed as a smaller version of the Colosseum. Arrayed in the field in front of them were several rows of soldiers in white armor. They held large rectangular shields with some plain looking long-swords that were hanging sheathed at their sides. There was one other thing about these soldiers they were at least ten to eight feet tall which naturally made Seth's group outnumbered in two categories numbers, and height.

 Seth looked to Matt as he stepped forward, Matt met his gaze and opened his mouth to speak but apparently, the soldiers had no intention of waiting for their approach. As one they raised their hands palms facing Seth and his group and without a word they fired. Bolts of the same white energy Seth had seen Joseph use rocketed towards them. In that moment, Seth's body froze. He couldn't move and even if he could he wasn't sure if he would be able to dodge the projectile coming towards him. Fortunately, Matt did react, he tackled Seth and they both went to the ground out of the path of the bolts. The bolts hit the stadiums walls and taking a good size chunk of stone.

 "T- Thanks," Seth managed but Matt only grunted before getting to his feet. Seth did the same mentally hitting himself for his moment of weakness. Then Seth tried to take in the scene around him. Seth's group were still clustered near the entrance of the arena while their enemy had now broke ranks but were raising their hands to fire off more bolts at them. They needed cover, and fast. Matt had already started to act.

 "Aria!" Matt yelled. "We need some cover now.

 "You got it," Aria replied from somewhere off to Seth's right side. Seth looked to where Aria was as she got to her knees and slammed her fist into the soft sand like dirt of the arena. The earth rumbled and in front of them the ground erupted. A thick barricade of stone arose to about waist height and the bolts began hitting the barricades with a boom, showering dirt and rocks all over Seth as he tried to recover his senses. Seth felt someone shaking him and he looked up in a daze. All he could think about was staying in cover.

 "What was even going? What kind of test was this that they actually attacked them!?" Seth thought.

 "Seth!" Matt was yelling, "Pull yourself together!" But Seth's body had other ideas and Seth began to breath heavily. Sure, he had been in fights before but this was a battle not no fight. Seth felt deep fear trying to overcome his sense of calm he had attempted to put into his mind. 

 "Seth! You need to calm down!" Seth wasn't sure what Matt was saying because his vision had blurred. Then Seth's mind screamed at him to calm down and think. He wasn't helpless he had abilities normal people didn't. Seth took one deep breath then another slowly breathing in and out. After a few minutes, Seth's heart rate, had slowed down to normal. Seth realized he really didn't know how to use his powers at will yet. But then he thought back to what Strat had told them in the locker room.

 "Imagination is the Key." The more Seth though about these words the more he understood their meaning. He got an idea... Seth felt himself turn to Matt and give him a wide smile.

 "Hey do you think you guys can distract them for me for a few minutes?"

"What!? Why?" Matt studied Seth who he saw was now calm down but had a huge smile on his face. Matt could see that Seth had a plan and he had been fighting long enough to recognize that Seth was confident that it would work. "What do you have in mind?" he asked Seth who had already been thinking of what he would do.

 "Don't really know as of yet but I'm sure it will work." He told Matt. Matt frowned clearly not sure what to think of Seth's Request. Seth peeked over the barricade to look at where the soldiers were. They had split into four teams, two were laying down suppressive fire while the other two groups tried to sneak around the perimeter of the arena to flank them. But if Seth did his part well they were in for a rude awakening. Seth sunk back down and turned to Matt. "Look we don't have much time you're going to have to trust me." Matt looked like he wanted to argue but then thought better of it and he simply nodded his affirmation.

 "Okay we'll keep them distracted tell us when to start."

 "Well anytime you're ready." Seth replied simply.

 Seth had always been considered to have an amazing imagination and now he was going to show just how much of an imagination he had. He closed his eyes and thought about the positions of the enemy. Then he instinctively reach to a park with in himself that Seth had always thought was different it was like a ball of swirling energy positioned directly above his heart. Seth willed himself to take hold of that energy and allow it to spread throughout his body. When Seth opened his eyes his body felt lighter even with the armor he wore on, he felt stronger and like he could run two marathons back to back without breaking a sweat in short it was a good feeling. Seth immediately prayed for God to allow him to finally access the power God had set aside for him. Seth felt a soft wind caress his face as if to say "I'm here."

 Seth immediately knew God had granted his request and He silently gave thanks to God. Seth had used his power before but he had never been completely in control, it had always happened when he was in danger or scared but now Seth could feel that he was in command.

 Without another thought Seth leapt over the barricade and opened his mind to his imagination. The first thing he thought of was boots that would allow him to run faster and jump higher than anyone else. Seth looked down and in place of his greaves were to bionic boots that had a collection of wires and hydraulic pistons that seemed to run it. In a way It made him look like Iron Man. A bolt slammed into the barrier near him basting him back from his reverie of his new boots. Seth drew Sonfang and charged the enemy in front of him. In the space of a few second he was running approximately two hundred miles an hour straight at the soldiers in front of him.

 Seth had been traveling so fast in fact he had ended up plowing the first soldier right into oblivion.

 "Holy Cross, this is fast!" Seth exclaimed, but he continued on. As Seth approached a second enemy he thought of a movie he had once seen. It was one of those old martial arts shows where the characters practically flew through the air. Then he had an idea. Slamming his feet down he leapt into the air somersaulting over the soldier and without turning he plunged his sword into the glowing apparition's midsection. The soldier immediately dissipated into white mist. Seth moved on to the next soldier who had now drawn his sword and charged the foolish agent that had penetrated the lines. Seth still following the martial arts sequence in his mind, leapt forward with his using his left leg to gather his strength for his jump. Because of this the boots he created responded in kind drawing upon the energy of his body and the power he was using to sustain the boots.

 Seth felt his reservoir of energy drain a small fraction and he was propelled forward and to the right side of the apparition faster than the enemy soldier's eyes could follow. Seth held Sonfang out horizontally to his left hoping he would be fast enough to strike the soldier. He was rewarded by the feeling of resistance along the blade and the burst of white mist that exploded from where the soldier had been standing. Without pausing Seth immediately went to the next opponent; the next and so on until he had almost made one complete sweep through the enemy's ranks.

 At this point it got harder for Seth. The soldiers were getting smarter and they stopped charging him the moment they saw him. They began to move back and gather in numbers rather than face him one on one. Seth recognized what they were doing almost too late. But luckily he was an accomplished chess and checkers player so he had a sixth sense about being led into traps. He came to a halt studying the soldiers and found that he was indeed at the center of a group of maybe eight or so who were in the middle of tightening their circle that he was trapped in.

 Seth knew at once that it was already too late for him so slip out of the encircling. Seth looked across the arena to where Joseph and the rest of the squad were still duking it out with ten or twelve other mist soldiers. So he realized he was on his own. He racked his mind trying to figure out how he could escape the situation before him, and he found himself envisioning the arena like a 3D checkers game board. He couldn't go left, right, forward, backward. It wouldn't be impossible to imagine a way to go down. But Seth expected it would either drain too much of his reservoir or would take too much time so that left him with going up as his only other option. His mind quickly picked up on a way to do that. In fact, it had been on his mind ever since he had been introduced to this whole world. He always asked himself if there were Demons then were there Angels? The enemy soldiers closed in from all side ready to finish him and they thought they had him cornered.

 Before they could reach him he launched himself in the air directly up and after a brief summersault Seth sprouted a pair of white feathered wings, the exact kind of wings he imagined angels had. The wings sprouted out from the center of his upper back. They had a wingspan of fifteen feet and when Seth flapped them he realized that it was no different than extending his leg; It was instinctual.

 The flapped his wings hard down, raised them then flapped again. He quickly began to get the idea and gain a fair amount of altitude. So caught up in the mood was he that Seth momentarily forgot they were in the middle of combat, though he was rudely reminded of that in short order when a bolt came flying past his face within an inch of his nose.

 "Hey!" Seth protested. "My sniffer!" Seth heard someone snicker below but he ignored it this was his moment. As Seth looked down he realized the eight soldier that had been surrounding him were now airborne with wings of their own and making good time coming after him. Seth wasted no more time. He quickly took aim and began firing bolts at his enemy with ducking and dodging the incoming ones. In quick succession three of the eight were sent tumbling back toward the Earth in an uncontrolled free fall.

 Seth pulled back as a bolt flew past him. Then after forming a small javelin in his left hand he threw it at an incoming glowing fiend and it took the apparition in the chest sending him to the ground. That meant there were only four more to go. But now they were to close for anything but sword work. Seth immediately found out sword fighting on the ground was immensely differently than in the air. Seth had use his wings for every maneuver he wanted to do. The fact that he wasn't used to it became very apparent in the first exchange when he went to roll out of the way of an incoming blade and instead fell about ten feet before regaining control of his decent. Without pausing to think about what to do next he launched himself back up at the soldiers. He slashed the first one from shoulder to waist and then used the dissipating body as a spring board to reach the next soldier.

 Seth could hear the other two apparitions moving behind him in the air. So after he slashed through the one in front of him he used that one as a spring board to send himself into a mid- air back flip. He twisted in the air and brought Sonfang down splitting the soldier vertically down the middle. The last one didn't wait for him to attack it. It flung itself at Seth and performed a cross cut. Seth deflected the attack to the left with Sonfang and then propelling himself forward with his wings, he slipped inside to soldier's guard, and cut off it's head.

 In the calmness afterward Seth tried to recuperate. He was breathing hard not only from the exertion of the fight but also from the energy it was taking to keep himself air born. It was not surprising that it had taken him several second to realize the horn that signaled the end of the test has blowing. Seth shook his head trying to clear it and he headed down. As soon as he had landed Matt, Aria and the rest of his new teammates surrounded him clapping him on the back and asking him how he had done what he had just done.

 Aria looked mildly impressed but looked like she was not going to act like the rest of the team and assault him with question. Finally, Matt was the one who took command and asked the first question.

 "What was that and how did you do that?" He asked a look of almost awe on his face. "I've never seen anything like that." Seth smiled at the faces around him.

 "You told me I only had to imagine what I wanted and it would happen," he replied. "So that's exactly what I did." Matt shook his head like he couldn't understand what Seth was saying.

 "I mean how did you make yourself faster and then the wings?"

 "I imagined them just like you said to do I made me some bionic ion powered boots and angel's wings."

 "Bionic what!?" Matt exclaimed clearly confused. That's when it hit Seth,

 "Oh, that's right you guys have lived here your entire life so you wouldn't know anything about the normal world, or about video games, or movies."

 "We have movies here," Aria said. She seemed to be a little irritated and Seth realized he had been using a superior tone as he had been talking.

 "We're also snobs toward people we don't understand which makes me fortunate that you guys aren't like that. But look what I'm trying to say is in the normal world there is a modest number of ways to enlarge one's imagination. And the whole world seems bent on the growth of imagination. Imagination is what's also gotten the Normal World so far technologically wise.

 "Well maybe you can teach us more about the Normal World during lunch, eh?" Matt said dropping his arm onto Seth's shoulder. "What does everyone think about heading over to The Smoking Dragon tavern." At this there were a lot of cheers from the group. "Lunch on me!" Matt yelled and everyone went as crazy as high school girls in front of their crushes.

 "Whoa, whoa who said we're done here," Strat's voice said from behind Seth's group.

They all turned as Strat strolled forward. Immediately all snapped into a line and stood at attention. Seth did his best to imitate their preciseness.

 "Sir!" they all chorused, but Strat held up his hand.

 "Alright enough of that especially since it seems we'll be comrades from now on." Seth could tell that meant a lot to the team. He could see smiles appearing on their faces as what Strat said sunk in. "Good job by all of you and welcome to the Disciples unit. I know not all of you knew what was going on today so let me explain it to you." Seth noticed some confused or nervous looks among the team but Seth didn't know what to make of this himself so he just kept still. "Now what I'm going to tell you, you must swear never tell anyone else or there would be a panic. You must swear not to tell anyone until I or Samson tell you it is okay."

 After they had all sworn Seth eyed Strat as he began to speak. "Okay to put it bluntly Reaper has escaped." Immediately after the words left Strat's mouth the entire team erupted in disbelief including Matt.

 "You've got to be kidding Reaper escaped how's that possible," Matt asked incredulously.

 "If we knew that I'd tell you... but we don't so I can't," Strat replied. "He's gathering an army and preparing for war with Elementia once again."

 "Has this been verified?" Aria asked.

 Strat nodded "Unfortunately yes it has. Which is why we are going to locate and recovers all the Elemental gems that God gave us to defend against Reaper. That's was the purpose of the training these past few weeks." This news seemed to stun the group into complete silence.

 "So, it's war then?" Matt said in a tone that was more of a statement than a question. Again, Strat nodded.

 "It looks that way." There was no fear in either Matt's or Strat's voices but that did little to allay the fears that had come forward; the most bothersome thing was that word War. Seth raised a hand like he was in school. Strat noticed him right away.

 "Seth, do you have a question?"

 "Oh, what do you know it works both here and in the normal world." Seth thought,

 "It must be the universal signal for having a question." Seth took a deep breath and stepped forward.

 "Um I just wanted to ask what do mean War exactly?"

 "I mean it just how I said it," Strat replied his eyes narrowing.

 "Okay, fair enough answer I suppose but I would like to point out I didn't sign up to fight giant evil shadow demons my friend. So exactly what do you mean by war." Strat stepped toward Seth and everything in the arena seemed to freeze. Seth could fill the air chill and Ground began to rumble softly. Seth didn't back off or apologize. No one could expect him to unknowingly sign up for a freaking war could they?

 "You may not have had to deal with this in the normal world but we don't have that luxury here. Might I remind you that one of our best protectors and a dear friend to me died just getting you here alive. Now you are saying you refuse to fight!" Strat exclaimed angrily.

 "No you don't have to remind me Strat, I know well enough the cost of my safety and I didn't say I would not fight but whether or not your friend died has no bearing on if I throw myself into a deadly war with an enemy I nothing about for no reason or explanation," Seth replied in an equally angry tone.

 Strat seemed taken aback by Seth words but then his expression changed from controlled but boiling anger to one of pure awe and joy.

 "That explains a lot wow who would've guessed." Seth in his current state was too angry to try to understand what Strat was saying.

 "What explains a lot mister guilt tripper? Hmm? Or do you want to blame someone else's death on me now, Seth snapped.

 An audible gasp filled the air and Seth took a moment to look around. Around Seth everyone was staring in mixed horror and awe at his right upraised hand which until this moment he had not realized he had raised. He looked up at it and he too gasped. In it Seth held a spear made of pure ice." Seth dropped the ice weapon and it fell with a long clang to the hard stone below.

 "What when did... I don't know how that got in my hand." Seth in his anger almost killed Strat something he did not think he was capable or messed up enough to do. "Strat I'm sorry I would never..." Strat raised his hand to stop Seth.

 "I know you didn't mean to but do you know what this means this is... this is ..." Strat paused and looked around at the Seth's group then he straightened up. "I'll have to discuss this with Samson for now, go on relax and enjoy the rest of your day, you've earned it." Without another word, Strat turned on his heel and marched out of the arena Seth almost thought he heard Strat mumble something about someone or something called Zach Warstroff. Although he just dismissed it because it had nothing to do with him.

 Before Seth had time to think about it more Matt threw his arm around him and led him toward the underground locker room. When they got there everyone went into two separate changing rooms: one for girls and the other for guys. Matt pointed at his locker, "You new Lightforce Military uniform will be in there," he said pointing to a locker that was in the far corner of the room from all the others. Why so far from everyone else Seth had no idea but he really didn't mind. At least until he got to know everyone a little better.

 "Thank You Matt," Seth said turning to his locker.

 "No, thank you, for helping us pass that test I honestly don't think we could of done that with out your help." Matt smiled,"you can walk with us to the tavern for food before our demonology lesson."

 "We have a class about demons?"

 "Well yeah, we have to know how best to fight them, what to avoid, and the history behind our struggle." Seth thought about this but only nodded.

 "Does Strat teach that one too?" Seth asked. Matt's eyes narrowed but only a little, enough for Seth to know he had said something wrong.

 "The proper way to address Strat is by using his title of Lord Bannot." Seth snorted.

 "Well you might do that but from where i come from we don't have titles like that anymore." Matt's eyes narrowed even more.

 "Lord Bannot has been a protector for nearly two thousand years! Show some respect, he has earned that title." Seth knew he was in the wrong so he decided not to rub his new friends the wrong way.

 "Okay i'm sorry i'll correct it," he said trying to sound polite.

 "Thank you but no Lord Bannot does not teach that lesson, that's done by Lady Rylee." Seth felt his stomach sink.

 "Ryl... I mean Lady Rylee teaches?" he asked trying not to let the dread in his voice show. He must have not done a very good job of it because Matt laughed.

 "Oh yeah it's going to be one interesting class period. I can't wait to see which type of daggers she stares at you. Will they be ice, fire, or maybe pure hatred," Matt said with a humorous twinkle in his eye.

 "Well I pick letter D: None of the above," Seth replied, Matt laughed again and began to get out of the armor he was wearing. Seth did the same he opened his locker to find a with woolen shirt with thick leather pants. On top of that was a gold painted hardened leather chest-plate that would offer enough protection from standard blades but wouldn't be able to accommodate any weapon heavier than a long sword. Over this went a white knee length hooded leather jacket but the the hood would only be used in case of rainy days. The jacket at two patches on the left breast. One was a insignia of some sort it showed a picture of a field of darkness upon which four rays of light shined down. Outlining the border in gold lettering were the words "To God We Look To, To Light Our Path, May He Rain Forever."

 The second patch was square where the last one had been a circle, and it simply displayed his name in gold writing and beside it said "Disciples Squad Division 1 ."

 Seth put all of this on and then remembering his mother'sword he strapped SonFang to his side next to the leather sword belt that had been provided. He shut the locker then headed for the entrance where everyone else was waiting. As he pushed open the door the first thing he saw was Aria and the others patiently waiting for him.

 "You know you didn't have to wait for me right?" he said even though he was kind of glad that they had waited. Seth didn't want to spend the rest of the time he had before his next class wandering the streets of the Academy. Aria smirked but then smiled,

 "Yeah we know we didn't have to wait but we did anyway," She said. "Matt went ahead to reserve us a table at the inn so come along." Seth said nothing but simply followed her and the others down the cobblestone street. There was about fourteen of them in their little group. And apparently they made up the First Disciple Squad. They were going to go after something called elemental gems, but what those were Seth had no idea. Seth stumbled on a rock and nearly fell. He steadied himself and then looked to where the others had pulled ahead of him. He hurried to catch up so that he would not be left behind.

 "So this tavern you're taking me to, What kind of food does it have? Does it have hamburgers?" Seth asked. The group stopped and they all turned to look at him.

 "What are hamburgers?" They all asked in unison. It took a few minutes for Seth to process what they had just said and when he did he could feel his jaw dropping every second as he understood more of what they were saying.

 "What in the name of the good Holy one!" Seth shouted in complete shock. "You mean to tell me you've never had hamburgers before?" The blond one Michelle frowned at him.

 "Yeah so what?" she asked.

 "So what!? It's just wrong that's what!" "Cancel that reservation we're going to my house immediately you all have to be educated in the culinary arts of the Americas."

 "What's America?" one of them asked. At this point Seth felt like crying. Them not knowing about America was understandable but not knowing about hamburgers was crossing the line. It was like not being able to speak English or at least read. It was unthinkable.

 "That's it some one go get Matt and tell him to cancel the reservation." Aria opened her mouth to protest, but Seth cut her off. "It is an affront to my culture to not know of the hamburger. You are eating one, I will not take no for an answer." Seth stared her down until finally Aria gave in.

 "Okay fine," she said shaking her head. "It looks like we have no choice. Travice please go and inform Matt we will be dining at Seth's house." An older boy about seventeen years old or so nodded then kept running down the street.

 "Luckily for you my mother brought some hamburger meat over from the Normal World and we have a grill in the kitchen." With that Seth led his new found friends down the street towards his house.