"The
Evidently I had also fell asleep before I could even began. The report was supposed to be about the history of any of the five major landmasses of the world. I had picked Cansidia. But I have to admit I procrastinated. I suppose I was paying more attention lately to my physical training than my studies. But it was understandable. The preliminaries for all junior students started this week. I had to be in top physical condition.
I glanced back over to my history text. I made it to page eight. Eight out of three hundred sixty-five. The funny thing was I could hardly recall falling asleep. I remember begining to type when--
The dream. I remembered now that I had the dream again. I could never completely remember after I woke up, but in the dream everything was crystal clear. It was when I still lived with my parents, right before I came here. In the dream everything was perfectly clear, but I could hardly remember now that I woke up. I could only remember what I had been remembering for seven years now afterwards; the explosions, the screams, hazy memories of running for dear life, but nothing solid. Everything was solid in the dream, but out of it everything was hazy. I don't know what's been wrong with me lately, but I've just been having the same dream now every night for the past week. The weirdest part is not being able to clearly recall the dream after being in it for so many times in a row.
I considered trying to type for the remaining fifty minutes before class, but I simply just cut the computer off. There was no point.
I walked over to my window and looked out, examining the entire campus. I lived now on a kind of school campus, although it's not a regular school. Let me explain.
Somehow I made it here. I know it sounds a little un-detailed, but I really don't remember much. I remember being afraid, awaking to a room full of staring people. They told me that I was okay, that I wouldn't have to worry about anyone hurting me. I was in a medical room of some sort, where they had helped me recover to full health. I somehow scraped up my leg and busted up my left wing trying to escape from... something. I really can't remember. Whatever it was that attacked me and my parents.
The people seemed nice, and I began to relax. They told me I was safe there, and that they knew about my parents. They told me they were an orphanage school of some sort, where they took in kids like myself with no parents or abandoned kids and enrolled them here. I was depressed the first few days, but after a while I got along just fine. The kids were nice, although I was a bit anti-social, and the place itself was very high class. It was almost like back home. And no one made fun of me. Basically, this school, this entire facility, was based around military. The school took in orphans and children refugees from all over and enlisted them here. Everyone went through basic schooling, as we were, and then around age 12 or 13 the junior preliminaries are held. About ten or twenty separate tournaments are held at the same time, so after everything is completed you have roughly ten or twenty finalists that come out on top. Those are the ones that are sent to the elite classes. Everyone else gets to try again later on, or they go on to something that better suits their strong points. Besides this facility, there are thousands just like this one scattered all over the world.
Anyways, I have this thing people didn't use to take too kindly to. Actually, two things. I'm fairly normal, like any other kid. I have wonderful light golden-brown and red shaded skin like polished cherry oak, and I have wide, curious golden brown and red moon eyes with a penetrating glare. I'm average size for a twelve year old, and I have a slim yet sturdy build.
But the thing that people couldn't get past are the two angel-like wings that sprout from my back. They aren't really big, and you can tell that they're too small in relation to my body to actually allow me to fly. But they do allow excellent maneuverability when running or jumping. People would tease me all the time, calling me bird boy or some other insult. Kids stayed away from me. I tried not to pay attention to them, but it was hard.
"Mom, how come you don't have any wings?" I would ask her sometimes.
"Because I'm not a little angel like you are, dear." She would say with a smile and hug. I assumed she didn't know either.
I guess people didn't tease me here because they had their own misfortunes. Not physically, but simply enough, experiences that would make you think twice before teasing anyone. But a lot of people here looked different. A couple of people had horns, like goats. Others had tails. I could understand that a lot of these people were from the northern and southern continents, where climactic conditions and other variables explained their appearances. People who lived on those continents for millenias evolved that way.
In either case, I eventually stopped asking about it. It made me unique in a way, but it also made me an outcast back home. Around here, I didn't feel too out of place.
I shut down my computer and headed out of my room. My room was alongside a long hallway lined with dozens of other rooms just like mine. Everyone else was most likely asleep. I decided to do a little walking around before I had to report to class in the next wing.
The entire complex was huge. Outside of it, there was nothing but field space that stretches for miles and miles. Around the complex perimeter were areas for training, sports, and field testing. Altogether, the complex, along with it's outside surroundings, was at least two square miles. There are many others, but the name of this complex is Aragwin Academy.
From the outside, the complex looks like a large, unattractive cube. A force field surrounds the entire complex, keeping people out and the others like us students and staff in. Most of the staff live here, but the ones that have business in the outside world pass freely between our world and the "other" world. Everyone else needs to obtain special permission to step off of S.C.I. territory. For general safety purposes, it's just the natural rule for all of us here. Many of us are well aware that enemies of the Murasma prime government would love nothing better than to be able to seek and take us out because we support Murasma. This is why total confinement from the outside except for special missions was required for us. This is why I wanted, no, I needed to become a part of the S.C.I. special elite class. To be able to see the world, to make a difference, to know I was a part of something larger than myself, it made all the training worthwhile.
Anyways, the complex only looks unattractive from the outside. In the inside, the place is nothing but state-of-the-art. Through the front main doors powered by electromagnetic locks, a huge lobby looms in front of you. In front of you are three elevators; the left leading to all classroom activities that they hold for students, the right leading to all dorm rooms for students and staff, and the middle off-limits. I didn't know what was up there, and neither did most staff. Of course, there's a whole lot more to the complex than that, but it's not like I have an entire map in my head. Besides the elevators, there's a hallway to the left and right that basically lead to the same place, but if you go too far you can get lost and end up somewhere you probably shouldn't be. The rules are fairly strict in most S.C.I. complexes for snooping around where you shouldn't be, but I believe they go a lot easier on kids. Right now, I was headed out of my room and down the hallway that lead to the staircase leading to most of the classrooms here.
As I headed down the long, winding stairway that led away from the first wing, I decided to go pay my instructional teacher a visit. He was assigned to me a few years after being sent here, and he taught me a great deal about different styles of fighting and various martial arts. He was also the first to teach me how to completely control my element.
I understand that there may be some confusion on that last part of my statement. Let me better explain.
I've come to realize that most students, perhaps even all of the students, in this facility have the ability to control the elementare arte, or to put more plainly, to use elements. We took a class on it, but not for very long. It was definitely an interesting topic, but many people couldn't agree whether the ability was the result of spontaneous evolution for some people or just a strange genetic mutation. But for all it's worth, I can tell you what I know.
Explaining the elementare arte is kind of hard. But I'll give you the simplest explanation that I know of, the one I learned from my instructional teacher.
When the five continents were still united (the northern ice continent, the southern decay continent, the western terranium continent, the eastern aeranium continent, and the equatorial continent), there were four dominant species fighting for control; the Harpiums, the Speariuns, the Carsians, and the ancient Humans. This was way back before technology, but the weapon that the ancient species knew how to control was the elementare arte, the ability to control the elements. From what Darious told me (my instructor), all life on the planet is infused with an elemental energy. The elements of fire are in some, while in others is the spirit of water and of wind and of earth, and many many others. It all sounds highly unscientific, but the explanation suited me fine.
Anyway, the ancient people all had the ability to draw out the elemental innate energy of their bodies into the form of elemental emissions. They weren't limited to their own innate element for elemental attacks, however. Depending on the person and their level of power, many were also able to execute emissions of different and multiple elements. It was a powerful skill that nearly every individual of the ancient species knew how to control. Unfortunately because of their great power, their wars against each other were outrageously colossal, often damaging the very earth they stood on.
Then, fifty thousand years ago, there was a great event, or phenomenon, known as the Great Flash that affected the entire planet. Scientists can't agree on exactly what the great flash was, but they say it's apparent that there was a great discharge of energy involved that hit the entire planet at once. Some say it was a cosmic event. Others think it was the misuse of elements by the ancient species. And there are a dozen more theories, but simply enough, it was a great burst of energy that separated the continents and damaged some of the land masses as well (the northern and southern continents).
The four dominant species were scattered abroad on the five continents. Most of the Harpiums and Spearias were on the western continent at the time of division, and a majority of the ancient Humans were on the eastern one. But because of the enormous number of humans compared to the number of the other ancient species, the human gene eventually became the dominant gene for all the ancient dominant species through evolution and interbreeding. Because a majority of the Harpiums and Spearias were on the western and southern continents at this time, most people who live there today still share many traits their dominant ancestors once had. The ancient humans were the ones mainly on the eastern continent, so most people today on the eastern continent share no traits with that of the other ancient species. But the most important part of this story is that after the continents separated, survival became more important than war, and the wars ceased. The Carsians that were moved to the northern continent were forced to adapt to the harsh cold, while the remaining members of the dominant species that were transferred to the southern continent had to struggle to grow food on the blasted, corrupted ground. Therefore, as time passed, the ability to be able to use the elementare arte was forgotten. I guess in scientific terms you would say the part of the brain responsible for allowing the emitting of elemental energy became vestigial. However, every now and then, people would be born that had the ability to use the elementare arte. This mostly happened on the western continent. It's rare over there, but not that rare. In Cansidia, over here in the eastern continent, it was hardly heard of. People with the capabilities to use the elementare art are called Elementals.
Anyway, that's the scoop on the elemental arte. I really wish I knew more, but I don't. I know the art of using my elemental abilities in fighting, but that's all I know in addition. I was born with the ability to use the elementare arte, and so were my parents. Sadly, I realize that nearly all of the students here also know how to use the elementare arte. It's a shame that so many of these kids were probably abandoned or neglected because of this reason.
I finally ended up at the front door of my instructional teacher, Darious Harndoun. He was a very gifted warrior and had taught me many things. Sometimes I would wonder why such a great fighter like him was in study hall teaching a hand-full of miserable amateurs like myself. Had we had a true one-on-one battle, Darious could have killed me in seventeen different ways and ate pie at the same time.
Darious was definitely not a normal guy. He definitely had Carsian blood in him; his body looked like the perfect melding of human and lion. He didn't have cat ears or whiskers or fangs or anything, but his body (where his clothing didn't cover) was covered in thick, golden fur. His hair, human-like and mane-like at the same time, came down to his shoulders. And he always had a hard, concentrated stare, like that of a true lion. He had Carsian blood in him, that was for sure.
I knocked on the door, and a few moments later, the door opens and Darious pops his head out.
"Oh, hello Amarene. I wasn't expecting you for another two hours or so." He said with a voice full of warmth, but strong and sturdy at the same time.
"Yeah, I know. I just came over before classes started to train a little."
Darious seemed to look back into his room at something, and then he looked back towards me.
"Sure, come on in."
I stepped into the dimly lit room, my eyes adjusting instantly. I always liked Darious' room; no desks or chairs or blackboards or anything. Actually, it was a scene cut out of a nature catalog. The ground was padded, not grass or anything, of course. But the walls were lined with miniature trees and plants and there was always a soft breeze coming from somewhere in the room. Even with my hyper adept senses, I could never be completely certain where it came from, as if the direction from where it came changed every day.
"Before we start, there's something I want to give you." Darious said, motioning to me. He was walking towards a sort of office room in back of the training room. I started off towards him, a little anxious. What is it that he could possibly have for me back there?
As I made it to the doorway, he appeared holding two objects in his hand. They appeared to be...
"Are these swords?" I asked, looking carefully without touching.
"Yes, they are." Darious said, handing them to me. I got the feeling that there was something he wasn't coming right out with at the moment.
As I took them in my hands, Darious said, "These belonged to your father."
I almost dropped them.
"W-what?" I said, somewhat stunned. He hit me with that all at once, in a humorous simplistic manner.
"They belonged to your father when he was still alive. I can't believe the people here were actually able to recover these weapons, but they did, and they were here ever since--" He paused to think. "At least since a year after you came here. I was waiting for the right time to give them to you. And I figured with the exams coming up and all, you could at least learn how to use these things so you'll be a top-notch fighter when you win." They way he said it, it almost sounded like my name was already at the top and all I had to do was appear.
I held the two swords carefully. According to their shape, they were definitely Sabers, but as I slowly, almost delicately unsheathed the larger of the two swords, I could see that they had a unique style and pattern all their own.
"I can... almost remember my father having these. Using these." I said, almost in a daydream-like state. My memories about my parents are fuzzy, but I remember sometimes when we used to train together, and my father had--
A red explosion crossed my mind.
Shuddering, I shook the thoughts off, sheathing the sword. I really had nowhere to put them, so I placed them on the ground in a respectful manner. Darious looked at me, curiously, thinking, but shook whatever it was that crossed his mind off.
"So, would you like to see how you'll fare in the tournament?" Darious said with a smile.
"What exactly did you have in mind for me to do?" I asked, curious.
"You'll train with me, of course. But this time I'll be a little less restricting in my abilities. If you can hold up against me for a while, you're bound to do well in the exam tournament."
I was a little nervous, of course. He was many times more powerful than me, this I knew. But I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to see how powerful I had become lately. I had been doing some severe training. Now it was time to see how well it all paid off.
Darious and I walked to the center of the training room like we had done countless of times before, but I felt edgy and super alert. I knew this wasn't the competition, but it sure felt like it. Maybe it was because he wasn't going to go so easy on me.
Darious is an earth elemental. I'm a fire elemental. Naturally, although there are many exceptions, earth innate types are strong against fire elemental attacks. Darious, unfortunately, was not one of those exceptions. If I had to use fire techniques, I had to stick to my most powerful ones to cause any damage at all, and most of the time I was forced to use different elemental attacks altogether. The weapon I had grown accustomed to while training here were my wrist blades. They were basically gloves with a spike edge around the wrist, but it was the gloves ability to retract and launch the the spike edge ring that made it a formidable weapon. It was also handy for transferring and launching energy.
Darious used a big, giant broad sword that looked nearly as heavy as I was. Not in training matches, of course, where his hands were plenty dangerous enough to cause injury. Come to think of it... I never saw Darious use his sword unless he was practicing alone. But just for appearance's sake, I guess, he always wore it with his attire.
I guess he frightened me a little when he pulled it out.
"This sword is about five hundred years old," Darious said. "It was handed down to me from my elders, who used this sword primarily for slaying Dracondras."
I shivered a little. I knew how deathly powerful Dracondras were.
"If you can handle me and my sword, you'll be ready for anything they can throw at you. Are you ready?"
I braced myself, wondering how I should start my attack. Darious was way too strong for a flat out frontal attack, but I already knew that I was quicker than he was. Perhaps I could use speed as an advantage this battle.
"I'm ready." I said boldly. I braced myself, waiting for him to bear down on me with all the power of a Titan.
Instead, he simply raised the handle of his sword, blade pointed down, and slammed the blade straight into the ground. Almost instantly, the ground split and broke and sent a careening, fault line of energy breaking straight towards me.
I jumped to the left, a little surprised by the opening move. But I could see I already made a mistake.
Darious appeared behind me. Fast. Way too fast.
I spun around to meet him and blocked both kicks with my arms, assuming defense position in mid-air. He was already landing quite smoothly, but the right side of my body was heading straight toward the ground. I pumped my left wing, whipped around, and in a mediocre fashion, clumsily landed on my feet.
"Good, you recovered nicely," Darious said, folding his arms. "Remember that in a fight, every part of your body is an asset."
"Yes, instructor." I said, a little worn out. I was surprised how quickly my energy had been drained during that very small workout.
"Oh, by the way, that was called the Infural Wave. An earth technique that actually drains the energy from it's surroundings to power the attack. This also includes people who aren't fully able to completely dodge the attack."
Ah. That's why I felt drained.
"Are you ready to continue now?" He asked.
I readied myself, regenerating my lost energy. When injured or energy depleted, I have the increased ability to regenerate myself at an amazing rate. In a few seconds, I could feel my energy back at 100%.
"Alright, let's go." I said, assuming fighters stance. Darious gave a hearty laugh. Not in a teasing way, though. I believe he was proud in my determination as a fighter.
Darious steadied the oversized sword with both hands, handle at chest level and blade poised somewhere off to his left side, and rushed forward. I was shocked at how fast he was moving. Perhaps before he even withheld his speed from me. But I still knew, all from my senses, that I was faster still.
I didn't dodge right or left. I jumped straight up. Seven feet! My wings were slanted downwards, the aerodynamic style giving me every inch I needed. And then I dived down right on his head.
I came down, foot first, and hit him squarely in the face. The attack hardly fazed him, however. But I was going for short, quick assaults. I leaped back off before he could grab me with his free hand. I landed on my hands, forward flipped away about three times, and whipped back around to face him. He was already headed towards me, wasting no time at all.
This time I went down on my knees to avoid the blow. Then, in a tremendous amount of energy, I folded both hands together across his stomach and fired a point-blank MegaFlare, one of my more powerful fire skills.
The blast blew him back a couple of feet, but he wasn't even close to being in pain yet. My attack had barely singed him. Darious readied himself again, holding his sword arced across his shoulder. He was smiling, I don't know what at exactly. A weird thought bubble popped into my mind imagining him thinking, "Wow, he almost had me there!"
Darious was ready to start again, his eyes telling me he was going to try something else new. But I had a little surprise for him, too. I had also been experimenting new attacks.
Dully at first, then more brightly, Darious sword began to glow. Another sword technique, I groaned inwardly. I wouldn't know what was coming my way until I got hit with it.
To my dismay, it came a lot sooner than I thought.
"LIGHTNING BLADE!"
The oversized sword, now flooding with energy, literally appeared to triple in size. And I could see the bright blue blade arc backwards, overhead, then right towards me.
That's when I almost laughed. As powerful as the skill was, I realized Darious had never tried an electric attack on me. Therefore, he had no idea that my body was completely immune to damage from electric attacks.
The attack slammed into me from overhead. I could feel the pressure, the current, but it simply passed right through my body. I decided to use this opportunity to charge my attack. I almost laughed; it was an ability I was now using for the very first time. With my hands folded together at my right side, I began to transfer the energy directly into my palms. I was glad Darious' own attack was creating a kind of electric smokescreen; he couldn't see me charging at all.
The energy from the attack was almost completely dispersed. I had to charge fast. With as much energy as I could muster, I completely charged the attack in a rush of extreme energy. I felt lightheaded for a moment because of the sudden drain, but I could handle it.
The attack ended with Darious standing triumphantly in front of me. Until he realized what I had in my hands, of course. But it was already way too late for him to dodge.
"Hyper Beam!" I shouted with power, and the attack was launched. The Hyper Beam technique is an energy attack made completely of accelerated ions pushed towards tremendous, almost impossible speeds. Basically, it was a hyper elemental attack.
The beam shot from my hands with such tremendous force my body began to slide backwards. There wasn't enough space for the beam to cause a sonic boom, but I swear if we had more room there would have been one. But at the very least, the attack was so powerful I could actually see space itself around the attack being distorted. That was weird.
Darious took the attack full tilt, and it blew him backwards like a leaf. Even I was surprised. Hyper elemental attacks are powerful, and Hyper Beam is certainly up there when it comes to the most powerful of them, but I never expected Darious to take the attack that way. For a moment, I thought perhaps maybe he was exaggerating a little; Darious did that sometimes during our training. But it was becoming more and more clear that my attack had actually hurt him somewhat. Darious had been blown back at least ten feet, landed on his back with a very heavy thud, and his sword flipped and landed a few feet away from his head. He stayed on the ground that way for at least ten seconds, then he began to get back up.
After finally getting back onto his feet, Darious looked at me. The expression on his face was hard to read. He seemed surprised, maybe even very surprised. But the part that confused me was that I could also pick up a slight trace of fear. Fear? Why?
"You've grown quite a bit, Amarene." He said finally. Then he began to laugh that laugh again. After a while I couldn't help myself and joined in with him. I felt proud of myself. Never before had I been able to battle with Darious the way I did today.
"You sure surprised me there," He said, still chuckling. "I guess I should have tried for a lower powered move before I used the big one, huh? I had no idea you were inert to electricity."
"Just a slight mistake on your part, I guess." I commented with a smile.
"So, when did you learn such a powerful technique?" He asked me, curious.
"Just practicing around. I was looking through some Elementare Arte books in the library and thought maybe I would try to practice a few new tricks."
Darious gave me that expression again, but it passed almost as quickly as it had came. "Well, I'm certainly proud of you, Amarene. Of all my previous students, no one has advanced quite as far as you have."
"Thanks, Darious, but I must admit most of my talent has come from your training."
Darious turned away for a moment, and then began to stare into space as if he were thinking of something. Something deep in his memory.
"Amarene, I have trained you for a long time. You have become a powerful warrior for your age. But always remember that it is your determination and will in life that will give you the victory, not my training."
Hmm?
"Do you understand, Amarene?"
"Yeah, I think so..." I honestly didn't.
He leaned forward and placed his hand gently on my shoulder. "Don't worry too much about that now, okay? Just promise me you'll win in the tournament."
"Gotcha. It's a promise." I said with a smile. As I headed back towards the door, I heard Darious call my name from behind.
"Amarene, just one thing: You had better not lose. I'll feel even worse losing to you now if you end up getting pummeled by some amateur rookie."
I couldn't help but laugh. "Sure thing, old man."
"Old?"
"It was a compliment. Means "much wisdom"."
Darious just gave me a wry grin.
"See you later." I said, and walked out the door. Just as I was making it around the corner of the hall I began to wonder how much time I had left before--
BEEEEEEEEEEEP! The electronic bell rung indicating that it was now 7:45. I didn't realize training with Darious would be so time consuming.
I ran down the hall as quickly as I could, hurrying desperately to get to the wing where my geography class was. I tried not to run too fast; the last time I tried bolting to class at top speed I slipped on a patch of buffed floor and slid all the way to the end of the hallway. Fortunately only my pride had been injured.
I made it to the classroom door and stopped an inch away from the glass window framed into it. I took a quick glance and realized that the room was dark. They must be looking at a projection presentation. Perfect.
I waited for my teacher to began speaking in her drone-like, melancholy voice and immediately, almost cat like, opened the door without a sound and slipped in. A few students saw me and giggled, but as long as the instructor didn't see me I was okay.
Hiding in the cloak of darkness, I quickly sidled up into my seat, acting as if I had been there the entire time. Sure enough, the teacher was doing some kind of oral lecture on one of the major landmasses. The hologram projector shot the image right onto the wall, showing the continents, oceans, mountain ranges...
"Amarene!" Someone in the seat next to me hissed. I glanced to my right. Sitting in the seat next to me was one of my friends, Terrone. He glanced up at Ms. Dubose, who was still giving the lesson plan, and then looked back towards me.
"What the hell were you doing this morning? You're late again!"
"I know, I know. I was doing some last minute training. I got up early."
Terrone gave me a an amused expression. "I guess there's no hope for you, huh? You get up early and you still make it to class late."
"Shut up." I told him, but I couldn't hide the fact that I found it funny myself. Even when I've been in a crappy mood, I could always count on Terrone to say something hilarious to cheer me up.
"She's going to fail you." He playfully taunted.
"Shut up." I said, almost breaking into a giggle. The entire scene of this morning up until now was begining to humor me.
"Did you do your report?" He asked, suddenly becoming serious. I think.
"Um..." I thought to myself, and then I actually did giggle. I did my best to keep it from being too loud, but remembering the single word on my report that I had to show for myself was just too much. "Man, all I managed to type last night was the word 'The'."
Terrone looked at me. "One word? Last night? Are you kidding me? You had a whole week to complete it! What happened?"
"I've been spending most of my time preparing for the preliminaries." I answered.
"I don't know if Ms. Dubose will even let you go if you didn't complete that report!"
"Ms. Dubose has no say-so whether I go or not." I reacted defensively.
"Amarene, if you don't pass this course--"
"Why, good morning, Mr. Arlen," A voice from the front of the classroom. Ms. Dubose of course. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you open the door and sneak into the classroom a few moments ago. I was busy explaining the content for the next review chapter you will be graded on next week." I regarded her innocently, staring at her with my big moon eyes. It was a teasing gesture, of course; Ms. Dubose already knew I had snuck in. This was probably the fifteenth or twentieth time her and I had gone through this morning ritual.
"Who snuck in, Ms. Dubose? It couldn't have been me. I've been here the whole time." I said with sweet, false sincerity.
"Oh, I suppose my senses must be failing me at my old age then," She replied. "So if you were here, then, perhaps you can elaborate on the lesson plan that I was just now explaining to the class."
I stared at the projection on the wall, and then back towards Ms. Dubose.
"I guess my senses must be failing me, too; I can't remember what you just asked me."
A portion of the class broke into a giggle.
"I asked you, Mr. Arlen--"
"Yes, I do have Mr. Jones after this class."
"Mr. Arlen, that's not the answer to the question I asked you."
"Then what did you ask me?"
Ms. Dubose looked down for a brief moment, and then looked back up towards me.
"Why must you constantly--"
"No, I don't think Constance is here today."
"Hey, I am too!" Constance shouted from the other end of the classroom.
It was clear that Ms. Dubose was becoming a little exasperated. She merely shook her head in disgust and went back to teaching the lesson. I never really liked Ms. Dubose. She was about forty-five years of age and always wore dismal clothing; lots of dull colors and fabrics. One time I told her, "Yes, Ms. Dubose, you are forty-five years old, but that doesn't mean you have to dress in forty-five year old clothing." I guess she was exceptionally touchy that day because I got detention.
"There are some days when I seriously don't understand you." Terrone said, turning back towards me.
"If you understood the training I go through everyday you would know why I don't have much time for geography."
"Guess you weren't lucky enough to be born cool like me, huh?" Terrone said, reclining in his seat, pretending to actually have some popular status infused in him. "Guys like us don't need training."
"In case you haven't noticed, Terrone, you're a junior, too. Which means you have to take the preliminaries today. And you didn't train?"
He looked at me. "I didn't have any time."
I looked at him sadly. "You're gonna get knocked out the first round. You know that, don't you?"
"I guess it's really not all that important to me, Amarene," He said, appearing to become serious again. "I'm not big with the whole military thing they've got going on at this school. I'd rather get all of my credits so I can move on to the advanced mechanic courses. I've always wanted to become a mechanical engineer."
"Terrone, those classes aren't for another two years."
"Yeah, but I figure I might as well aim for it now, right?"
"If that's what you want, man. Your call."
He grinned at me. "So while you're going on all of your little away missions with the rest of the graduates a couple of years from now, I'll be designing all of your weapon equipment. I'll make sure to give you all the faulty stuff."
I laughed. "Real warriors don't rely on technology. Sorry to burst your bubble, though. I guess you would enjoy sending me overseas with a bunch of stuff that doesn't work, huh?"
Terrone just rolled his eyes at me.
"It's time now for project presentations everyone. I will be calling you by name to come up to present your report." Ms. Dubose announced. The projection disappeared and the lights painfully flickered back on. Everyone blinked for a few moments, readjusting their eyes to the new brightness level. My eyes adjusted almost instantly.
"First up we'll have Corie Bryants." Ms. Dubose announced. Everyone groaned. Besides being the smartest kid in the class, he also happened to be the most arrogant, annoying kid in the class.
"So... there you are, Arlen." a sinister voice called malevolently from my left.
Okay, second most annoying kid in the class.
"Hi Devlin." I said, very drily. The voice belonged to Devlin Arnes, one of the most pompous, annoying, and arrogant juvenile in the classroom. He also had a lot of mouth for a kid that was only four feet tall.
"So... did you complete a project?" He asked, grinning quite slyly at me. The florescent lights gleamed wickedly off his glasses.
"No, I didn't, Devlin." I answered, using as few words as possible. I really didn't like Devlin, let alone talking to him. I've had more interesting conversations with stuffed animals.
"Oh well, a pity," Devlin sighed. "It's a shame that you're a failure at everything you do. It's also a shame that you won't make it anywhere in the preliminaries either."
I resisted the urge to laugh.
"I've undergone special training this past week just for the preliminaries. I'm quite confident now that I can take out nearly any opponent I'll encounter. That includes you, Arlen. So why even show?"
Somehow Terrone got sucked into our "conversation". "Oh please, Devlin. I'm not even participating and I could kick your skinny little--"
"I wasn't speaking to you, you insignificant mouse," Devlin hissed at Terrone. "This conversation is between a real warrior and his unwary competitor, not his irrelevant pet."
Terrone was about to get up and clock him one when Corie began to speak.
"I will be presenting my report on the Grand Flash," Corie announced. "As you all know, the Grand Flash is one of the greatest mysteries of early Earth. Even today, no one knows how this incident came about."
"Good grief, why does he have to stand up there and talk like he's some sort of professor or something?" Terrone sneered slightly, reclining into his seat again. "And what in the world is the grand crash? Did he do his report on car wrecks or something?"
"It's called the Grand Flash, you nut." I responded to Terrone.
"Some scientist believe the Grand Flash was caused by a temporary season of flare bursts from the sun. Since our sun does have a history of violent eruptions from time to time, this seemed to be a reasonable explanation. Since the southern continent still contains remnants of radiation decay that is common in stars, it is a plausible explanation that the sun could have in part been responsible for the catastrophe that split the continents, leaving two of them nearly inhospitable for most cellular organisms."
"Blah blah blah." Terrone muttered wearily. I was finding the report somewhat interesting. But I was also finding it boring in a way. It was probably Corie's tone of voice.
Well, in either case, Corie's report went on for about perhaps an hour.
"--And that concludes my report on the Grand Flash." Corie finally concluded.
"Well, uh, thank you, for that, er, interesting report, Corie," Ms. Dubose said, looking quite drained. "Well, since we don't have that much time left..."
"Hey, you might get off easy, Amarene." Terrone whispered.
"...let's see if we can cram in one more person, huh? Mr. Arlen?"
God, of all people--
"...Mr. Arlen?"
"Yes, Ms. Dubose?" I responded very innocently.
"You did do a report didn't you?"
I fumbled around a little with the papers on my desk a little. "Well, you see Ms. Dubose, a funny thing happened on the way to class this morning..."
"You mean besides being late?" Ms. Dubose threw at me.
"Yeah, well, you see... uh..."
"You didn't finish your report, did you?"
I sighed. "Ms. Dubose, with junior preliminaries and all coming up I haven't had much time for... well, other things."
"Oh, so I see. In other words, your precious little preliminaries match is more important than my class, huh?" She queried.
"It's not that, Ms. Dubose, it's just that..." I was stumbling around, trying to find something to say to defend myself. What could I say? That I've been having nightmares for the past two weeks like a little baby and couldn't concentrate on my schoolwork, and was really only participating so I could take my mind off of--
"I'm sorry, Ms. Dubose, I really have no excuse." I finally said. I guess my tone of voice surprised her a little; I guess maybe she was expecting me to hit her with some sort of silly comeback. But I was in a different mood now than from this morning when I first got here. Ms. Dubose just looked at me. And then after a few moments the bell finally rung.
"Don't forget to bring in your visionary aid projects next week." She called to everyone as they hurried on to their next class. I was trying to leave as soon as possible to avoid any personal "one-on-one" discussions with the teacher, but I just wasn't quick enough.
"Could you come here for a moment, Mr. Arlen?" Ms. Dubose called out to me. Terrone paused at the door, wondering if he should wait for me, but I just motioned for him to keep moving. Whatever it was she had to say, it couldn't take that long.
I turned back around away from the door and walked towards her desk. She was busy typing some sort of document on her computer, which was very plainly decorated in white. Her desk was tidily clean, almost painfully so.
FInally, after about a full minute of saying absolutely nothing, she spoke.
"Mr. Arlen, I've been noticing that your work performance in this class has been dropping quite significantly in the past two weeks or so. Your grade point average is very low. Even for your standards."
I was mildly offended. Hey, so I missed a few assignments in the past couple of weeks or so. She didn't have to rub it in my face.
But instead of lecturing me about how I should strive and do this and that, she asked me, "Have you been having any trouble with yourself lately?"
I was stunned for a moment. Initially, I didn't know what to think. I was surprised and bewildered all at once. There was no way she could possibly know, but when it comes to hitting the nail on the head she was frighteningly close.
After a while I merely answered, "No, I've been fine. Just a lot of pressure and all from my training classes, and it's been hard to sleep." I don't know what made me say the last part; I guess it just sounded good in a way. But it was almost like I felt something connect in Ms. Dubose's mind.
After a few moments she simply turned back to her monitor and said, "Just take it easy and try to do a little better. I would like to see you pass this course, okay?"
"Uh, sure Ms. Dubose." I answered, somewhat shaky. I slowly turned and left, thinking, as I headed towards the door. The only thing I kept telling myself was that it was nothing, Ms. Dubose was just concerned about one of her students, that's all.
But I knew better. I could feel, almost in a fuzzy notion, that something was up. But I didn't know what.
Not your concern, Amarene, I told myself. Just concentrate on the preliminaries. In a month or so you won't even have to worry about her anymore.