The Ancient's Academy of Mage Excellence~starts. Late sign ups welcome.

[Slikx]

Name: Aeroneth Illuminescence
Age: 16
Gender:Male
Courses Selected: Water (2 years), Basic armed combat and defence level 1 (1 year), Stealth(1 year), Wind (2 years). Total: 6 years
Personality: Easy going, with a strong heart, Aeroneth possesses skills inside of him which surprise many mages. A promising student, with a bit too much cheek.
Appearance: 6’0, casual, centre-parted hair, constantly changing its colour. Currently orange tipped.
Whether be participating in first tournament: No
Other: Carries his own weapon for his courses, with great sentimental value to him.

Stats
Attack: 230
Vitality: 195
Speed: 230
Magic: 200
Spirit: 195
Stamina: 150
Evade: 220
Accuracy: 180

If you have any questions or queries, please pm me.

Aeroneth Illuminescence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even the name sounds daunting. The Academy’s Ancient…oh wait, stuffed up already. The Ancient’s Academy of Mage Excellence. How’s that for a fancy name? But, in all honesty, that’s because it’s the world’s only magic school, and where I live is the only place where it exists. Y’see, I’m not like one of those guys down on the land below, that doesn’t even float, I’ve lived my life on a floating continent. Our resources rely on our skills, our magic, and thus, we have many of it, and there’s no need for greed and self-interest to prevail, like I’ve heard on the land below. But, I don’t believe it. I think they’d be like us, just…a little different, that’s all. But someday, I’m going to go and see for myself.
Anyway, I’m not going to talk about all that right now. Today, I joined school. Fantastic. Just six years, which will prove to be my most strenuous, and stressful. I’ve never been anywhere like here before. It’s not really like a school, I mean, not everyone’s even around my age. It’s not uncommon to see people doing first year courses, and they’re like twenty something and they should be living a real life. I mean, imagine getting out when you’re thirty. And you realise you should be married, and living the high life. How sad would it be?
Well, I’ll start from the top. When I got to school, I realised one thing I’d never seen before. Complete order. Even though the majority of us were quite old, we still marched in lines, and were to call the teachers “sir”. I’m sad to say that we were to attend an assembly after that, and unfortunately I have a very short attention span. Within fifteen minutes of the first lecture welcoming us to the institution, I found my eyes wandering, and my concentration wavering…I ended up watching the guy next to me, who too, had lost interest in the lecture. He was slouched unusually low in his seat, almost as if he were trying to merge into it. His head looked like it was on fire, but it was just his hair. Very cool looking hair might I add, though it must take at least four hours a day to maintain it. I noticed a dim glow from his hands, and realised he was conjuring fire. Even the most basic magic impresses me. Everyone’s good at their own thing, and so it’s cool to watch every last bit of it. I asked him: “How long did it take for you to learn how to do that?”
He answered very modestly, “Oh, you need skill, and it’ll take about six years.”
“Six years, now that’s funny. You’d have to be from the unfloating land to take that long.” I paused. “Or, you could be like you.”
He chuckled. “How about both?” He decided to try and impress me, and twirled his hands about in an idiotic fashion, with both his hands seemingly on fire, then with a clap, the flames vanished. As idiotic as it was, I have to say, it was still pretty cool. I was almost regretting not doing fire…think of all the cool things you could do! I could even improve my weapon, which I valued before most other things.
At long last, the assembly ended, and we made our way to random buildings, which were random dorms, where we found random rooms, all identical, and then chose random beds. Even though the fortress had been standing since medieval times or something, it was still furnished elaborately, and I couldn’t help but be impressed. True, it was completely element proof, so I wasn’t able to set things fire when I pleased, but I still liked it, and at it was a relief I was able to escape here if I ever desired.
There was still so much to do though, friends to make, girls to meet, things to kill, but best of all….magic to learn.

[Sakura12]

Name: Eleanor Laerien
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Courses selected:
~ Basic armed combat and defence. (Level 1)
~ The arts of stealth (level 1)
~ Water
Personality: Eleanor doesn't mix easily, but chooses her friends very carefully. She has a mild temper, prefering quiet negotiations to arguements or fights. Her favourite pastimes are listening to and playing music.
Appearance: At 5'10", Eleanor is one of the tallest female students at the Academy. She has bright blue eyes with auburn hair. Sometimes uses magic to dye her hair red.
Whether be participating in first tournament: No
Other: She has a very old cello, which has been passed down for centuries. Same for her sword.

Attack: 160
Vitality: 180
Speed: 220
Magic: 230
Spirit: 220
Stamina: 180
Evade: 200
Accuracy: 210

*^~Eleanor Laerien~^*

I sat in pretence of rapt attention in the lecture hall, but in reality, my mind was far away. I had just arrived at the Ancient's Academy of Mage Excellence two days ago, and already, I was being bored by lectures. How was I supposed to actually survive six years like that? How I wanted to get out of the hall, away from the drone of wheezy old Professor Dinkle's voice, and iin my own dormitory, perhaps reading a book from the library, or practicing on my cello...

I glanced to my left. Two seats down, some guy was trying to be clever. He twisted and twirled his hands about and procured a flame that engulfed his hands. Then, with a clap, extinguished fire. He grinned rather stupidly at the boy next to me, another freshman, who was clearly awed at the show of magic.

That guy's got too much showy stuff, I thought lazily. Indeed, he had been concentrating more on the hand movements for the sake of impressing the guy next to me that he had forsaken speed, and valuable time. If this were a battle, I could have struck him at least twice before he even finished conjuring his fire. And of course, my water element would put me at an advantage.

"... and with that, I conclude today's lesson. You may go now," Professor Dinkle's voice shook me from my dream-like state. There was a near stampede to leave the hall, I grabbed my belongings and joined the crowd leaving for the dormitories.

The girls' dorms were situated in the north and west towers; the boys' ones were south and east. We could choose and room and any bed, as long as we confined ourselves to the rooms that were assigned to our gender.

I had choosen a bed near the window in the west tower. The view from the window was splendid, showing both the forest near the castle and the river that ran through it. A picture of perfect tranquil.

I stood at the window for a few minutes, enjoying the cool evening breeze for a moment, then turned away, pulled my cello upright and started to play 'Canon in D Major'...

[Twilight Lune]

Name: Akira Kara
Gender: F
Age: 16
Courses selected: Swords and Defense (1 year), Archery (2 years), Stealth (2 years), Earth (1 year)
Personality: Shy, but warms up rather fast. Doesn't trust quickly, and is not interested in seeing anyone she has to kill. She rather be the killer you never see cause she won't see much of you either. She'll be friends with just about anyone from a thief to royalty. You can trust her but she doesn't nescessarily trust you. Just easy to get along with. So plain that you'll only know her as the go to for help but not much else. She hides a lot inside.
Appearance: Her hair changes with the seasons, brown and green in spring, green in summer, autumn colours in fall and white in winter. She'll dye it depending on the environment around her as well. 5'6 with brown eyes. Likes to wear a orange-gold elbow length shirts with flared ends. She had a brown vest overtop with
Whether be participating in first tournament: No
Other: Has a small flute like instument and a bow that had been passed down.

Attack:150
Vitality:180
Speed: 220
Magic: 190
Spirit: 180
Stamina: 200
Evade: 230
Accuracy: 250

To note I changed my Earth Magic to 1 year and have 1 year of Basic Armed Combat and Defence.

~~~~~

' Now THIS is what I'd call a school. ' I thought to myself as I sat in my seat not really listening to the person talk about school safety and other normal mumbo jumbo. Other students around me were very bored as well. Not that this school was ‘normal’

A couple days ago when we all arrived here I had to keep my mouth from dropping. This place was HUGE and looked very much like it had been used in ages past as a war keep. There were a few other surprised as well but they were fewer then those who couldn’t really care.‘ They must have lived here their entire lives other wise how could they not of been surprised! ’

I haven’t lived up on this floating continent for very long. You see my parents conveniently forgot to tell me that they well . . . were magically inclined. They could get things done quickly that my friends’ parents back on Earth would have taken hours to do. Our garden had been magnificent but of course I just thought they were great gardeners. They had been but not in the ‘normal’ way.

‘ Course I never would have found out about this place if I hadn’t accidentally seen my dad ‘encouraging’ a vine to grow. ’’ I thought smiling at the memory. I had walked into our backyard and saw my dad making a vine grow supper fast along the fence. I of course had screamed and looked at my dad like he had 2 heads.

He had calmed me down and taken me inside and my both my parents had explained what they could do and said I could go to the school and learn as well. They had thought I wouldn’t be interested.

‘ Dumb parents, they just didn’t want me to have something over them. ’ I thought angrily to myself. They didn’t want me to be able to do anything they couldn’t. So I went exactly opposite of what they thought I should have, specialize in archery over swordplay, stealth for earth and a mix of basic swordplay and earth for the water they took. I chose what I wanted not what they wanted. ‘ Showed them I’m not their little puppet, and for that I’m kicked out and dropped here. Go figure. ’

Anyway back to the present. I saw some movement out of the courner of my eye and saw a guy whose hair looked to be on fire start playing with fire. He was doing some weird hand movements and then clapped they together ‘extinguishing’ it. I raised an eyebrow before looking away. I caught the end of the professor (‘ what was his name? Dinkle pah . . .’) saying that the roof couldn’t be caught on fire so don’t try. Then he dismissed us.

“Thank god.” I mumbled to myself and slung my bag over my shoulder. I quickly left there and weaved my way through the throng of students to my dorm. As I entered mine a saw a girl beside me enter hers with the same relief that the boredom was over.

I sighed as I dropped my bag beside the bed and flopped onto it. I had only lain there for a few minutes when I heard some music coming from the room next to me.

“Hmm.” I muttered and grabbed my flute case. I loved the thing and decided to see if she wouldn’t mind if I joined her. Been a long time since my last music class and I’d love to play with someone. I quickly put it together and left my room.

I knocked lightly on her door. The music stopped and her door opened. The girl looked at me with slightly wary eyes.

“Uh hi. I was wondering if I could join you?” I held up my flute and smiled slightly. “If you’d rather play alone I understand. I just haven’t played with anyone in a while and was wondering if you’d mind.”

[Cxjenious]

Name: Draken Lionhart
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Courses Selected: Armed Combat (3 years), Earth (2 year), Archery (1 year)
Personality: Draken is a very confident, arrogant smart-***. However, he does have morals, though not many of them. He is stubborn, but he's also a really hard worker, and an amazing swordsman. Deep, deep, deep down he is a nice person, but most are either drawn away by his very thick air of confidence, or drawn towards him by his good looks. His very being demands respect.
Appearance: Draken stands at about 6'3, and weighs about 185 lbs. He is well cut, but not overly muscular. His hair is spiky and blonde, and parts of it comes down over his forehead and his ears. His eyes are a very deep green color. However, at times they can be gray. He is rather pale, and on his back has a tattoo of a flaming dragon. When he flexes his back muscles it looks like the dragon's mouth is moving.
Whether he will be in the 1st tournament: yes
Other: He's had a rather troubled upbringing. Has a sword made of steel and stone, and has been fused with his magical energy.

Attack: 225
Vitality: 180
Speed: 215
Magic: 205
Spirit: 200
Stamina: 190
Evade: 185
Accuracy: 200

Draken Lionhart

"How much longer do we have to sit here and listen to this man drawl on about this bull?!!"

I leaned back in my chair further, faking like I was asleep, "waking" occasionally to make rude faces at other people. A lot of the other students called me childish, but I truly didn't care. AS far as I was concerned, being a child was the best thing in the world, and I never was one...

I grew up on this floating island, and let's just say that my time here wasn't enjoyable. My father was a powerful, yet out dated dragoon, and he turned to the "commoners" alchohol to calm himself. He was abusive, and I awoke many times in the night listening to him beat my mother. When I turned 11, my mother and I decided he wouldn't hurt us anymore. Since my sixth birthday, I began rather vigourous physical training, far to strenous far someone three times my age. My mother accompanied me to these "workouts". By the time I was ten I wieghed 155 lbs. of pure muscle, and I wasn't a pretty sight. I was about 5'5, and all along my body all you saw where cuts and scars from my training. The only thing left untarnished was my rather pretty face, which has still retained it's boyish look. If it weren't for my height, people would think I was still ten.

Well, anyways, about a week after my birthday, my father had come home heavily drunken one night. He called me and my mother, and we played are usual roles. We looked scared and weak. Thankfully, he had never been home during the day, so he didn't know we'd been training. He also didn't notice the very large stone rock I had behind my back. We were going to use it to knock him out, maybe even kill him. He had never brought anything but terror to me and my mother. He raised his hand to smack my mother, and that's when I struck. I clunked him in he head with the rock, and my mother grabbed his wrist, and broke every finger on his hand. Luckily for us, he had long since "lost" his abilities to do magic. (He was sometimes so inebriated not only did he not know his name, but he didn't know he was a male, nor did he know he was a human. He almost drowned.) Instead of leaving him like that, I went a step further, and cracked hs skll wide open with the stone, and bashed his brains in. Needless to say, my mother was quite suprised. She started crying, and I began to think I has taken it a step to far. But then I realised she was crying of joy, in bliss because the demon that had haunted us for so long was gone from our lives. We hid his death very well, and she chopped his body up and buried it deep in the backyard. That was five years ago. Above his grave is a very large tree, were I sometimes pay respect to the man my mother fell in love with, and who I loved as a very young baby.

After that, my life was pretty normal. Somehow, my mother acquired a very large some of money, and I lived life rather luxuriously, though I never had the comforts of other kids my age. I was more into spiritual things than material things. My mother found anopther lover, a very respectable and honorable Samurai, who taught me how to use the blade. I also use a katana, made from the same stone I used to kill the demon that was my father. However, only the hilt is stone, and the heavy weight of the hilt has proved excellent for training purposes.

Back to my story: I got to know a few of the snotty rich kids, and I soon became like them, but when I was alone, or with someone I loved or respected, the real Draken came out, and I returned to my true spiritual self. Its been like that for a while now, but I haven't lost track with my true self, and hopefully this experience will erase the influence of the other high-class kids.

Back to the present: the professor was finishing his "oh so informative" lecture, and soon, we, the student body, were on our way to our repective rooms. However, before I left, I saw a red head playing with fire.

"Pretty nice," I said, under my breath of course. "I wonder what tricks you could do by studying earth..."

I quickly made my way to my own dorm room, dropped my things off, strapped my katana to my back, and left to explore this "academy". As I turned down a corridor very similar to the rest, I hear beautiful music coming from a room not to far from where I was standing.

"...Is that...Canon in D major..." I was quite suprised that anyone here new anything about classical music, and for that matter, even listened to it. Then again, no one would think I knew anything about music. For heaven sake, I'd killed a man! Not to mention, my blonde spiky hair and arrogant walk gave off the aura of an ignorant jackass. With a rather smug and dominant look on my face, I walked up to the room's door, and calmly knocked on it.

[MaHa_sHaDoWs]

Name: Durzah Brai
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Courses Selected: Earth (1 Year) Wind (2 Years) Archery (1 Year) Stealth (2 Years)

Personality: May be shy, though oftentimes is not. Calm in even the most dangerous situations, and serious most of the time. Has a strange sense of humor, that people may comment on as he may laugh during something that is not funny to most. When he's happy it seems to foam off of him and is completely and utterly noticeable. When sorrowful he looks serious and locks many other emotions inside. Has a hard time with trusting people, even those that have proved their trustworthiness. Tends to stray away from other people's bantering and is not the person to start a conversation with as he usually has nothing to say. Keeps to himself most times. Quite an intelligent and quick-learning student, retains knowledge quite easily.

Appearance: Tall, about 5'10, with a slim build that looks almost like he is malnourished. Has hazel eyes that are almost piercing when you look at them, though his entire eyes sometimes get hazy. Black hair, with a bluish tint, cut short with the bangs spiked, dull and sheen less. Pale skin, though part of his back (top) is unmistakably blackened. Left palm is tattooed with a large navy blue (shiny) spiral. Wears longish (dark) blue jeans and simple black tennis shoes, though he makes many excuses to give reason for wearing sandals. Wears a simple black t-shirt, and an amulet that is shaped in an oval, with a sapphire gem, that is slightly discolored black. Also has several different shaped silver rings, one a band with black gems around the entire ring, another with blue, and one that has a larger gem that appears to have gray mist inside of it.

Whether be participating in first tournament: No
Other: Carries his own bow that is made of very strong dark mahogany wood, and one dagger with a sapphire encrusted hilt.

Attack: 120
Vitality: 180
Speed: 230
Magic: 300
Spirit: 180
Stamina: 160
Evade: 230
Accuracy: 200
--------------------------------------------
OOC: Post later, I'm tired right now.

[Slikx]

Aeroneth Illuminescence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's strange when you open your eyes, and find that you're no longer at home, in a quiet town where everyone would greet me. Instead, you're at one hell of an old castle, and I doubt there were many people here who knew more than four others.
It was evening, and I decided to go for a stroll. I mean, sure I shouldn't be wandering wherever I like, but that's why I chose to do stealth this year. The east tower alone was huge, and I reallised that was the random tower I'd picked to stay at.
My walk took me firstly to the cafeteria, where I was denied food, because it wasn't yet dinner and they wouldn't let me "spoil my appetite." Sheesh, whatever. The East wing was next, and it was so ancient, at first I felt reluctant to enter, it was like I was disturbing history. Once I'd got over that idea though, I was amazed at everything in there. It had murals of future prophecies, in years ahead of even now, and those murals must have been written about centuries ago. It was more like a gallery than anything else, and I saw a sword on the wall, sheathed, so I couldn't see it's blade, and there was a small plaque beneath it saying: "The Excalibur"
I gaped. I had heard stories of it, of it's awesome power, it had slain many dragons in it's time, and I had heard of the knight who wielded it, for he surged his own magic power through that, to make it almost impossible to survive an accurate hit from it. I assured myself, someday, I'd wield a weapon that strong.
I unsheathed my own sword, it had come from generations ago, and been passed down. There had never been any fear of losing it, for it was loyal to my Ancient's blood. And my name, Illuminescence. I heard, that shortly after it was forged, one of my ancestors commanded great power with it, but a different sort of power to "The Excalibur". It's called the gungnir, but was once called something else, when energy was fused into it's hilt and it made a person invincible. Over time though, it's lost most of it's energy, and since we've had no major wars up on the floating continent, there has been no need to reforge it. Anyway, it’s power differed to the “Excalibur”, because while the Excalibur was made for chopping, as it was a straight, fairly heavy sword, the Gungnir was a light, curved blade with spring in it, so it could absorb it’s attacks easily. Being curved, it was made specifically for slicing. Runes run down the side of the blade, and I’ve heard they light up, a different number of them for a different amount of energy. So far, I haven’t even been able to get one rune to glow.
There were a few other things that interested me in the East Wing. Scrolls, bearing stories of great warriors, there was one of a Japanese swordsman named Musashi, who killed “The Haunting”, with his katana, and a combination of fused spirit energy. I saw supposedly indestructible shields, with pictures on them of great legendary summons. There was one of a phoenix, and a unicorn too. The sight of all these just reduced me, and I decided it was time to leave.
On the way out, I heard footsteps behind me, and I heard someone speak: “Think sharp!” In that flash of a second, I pivoted, and threw my own bolt of magic at the enemy. It hit the flame that had been thrown at me, and both of them headed straight into the offender, who was none other than Flamehair.
“Geez, what the hell was that for?!” he asked, spluttering. His robes were covered in soot, and I realised how hard I must’ve thrown that… “Hell, I didn’t even know you could to magic, I thought you were more pathetic than me!”
“More pathetic than you?” I replied coolly, “No chance. And in reply to your questions, sorry, it’s a bad habit of mine to attack back someone if I think I’m in any danger. And for question two, yes, I do know magic, and I’m twice as capable as you are.”
“Alright, alright.” He said. “But, I just came to tell you, you ought to check the east tower’s noticeboard. They’ve got all your classes up there, and they start tomorrow pretty promptly at 9:00. You’ve got a…you know, sword, chopping class thing? First thing tomorrow. But y’know, I’m being pretty nice to someone who’s just burnt me…”
“Oh c’mon, it was you or me.” I implored. “So, I figured I’d rather choose you than me. But anyway, it’s about dinnertime right? I might catch you there.”
I made my way to the Dining hall. The trip there alone took me what seemed forever, because the castle was just so big, and I found myself in the wrong hall at least five times. So I haven’t yet been able to do everything I wanted, but tomorrow’s a better day to do it. I looked around the Dining Hall. It was so big…geez, where would I sit? And not to mention, first thing tomorrow I’ve got a “Basic armed combat and defence” class. Well, we’ll see what it’s like. And now, I’ll see what the food’s like.

[Sakura12]

*^~Eleanor Laerien~^*

Just as I had begun to immerse myself in the music, there was a knock on the door. I opened it and found myself face to face with a shy-looking girl about my age entered. I stopped playing and looked up at her. She gave a nervous smile, holding up a flute.

“Uh hi. I was wondering if I could join you? If you’d rather play alone I understand. I just haven’t played with anyone in a while and was wondering if you’d mind.” She spoke quickly and meekly, as though afraid I might shout at her. I gave her a warm smile to show I wasn't going to eat her up or something.

"Of course I don't mind!" I told her. "In fact, I'd love to have a partner to play with. I'm Eleanor, by the way." The girl's smile broadened a little, seemingly relieved.

"I'm Akira, pleased to meet you." She held out her hand, and I shook it, and led her into my dorm.

"Any particular song you want to play?" I asked as I picked my cello up again.

Before she could answer, there was another knock on the door. This time, lazy to go and open the door, I called for the knocker to come in. The door opened and a boy with spikey blonde hair poked his head through.

"Excuse me, but were you the one playing 'Canon in D' just now?" he asked, a smug look pasted on his face. Despite his stupid look, I couldn't help noticing that he was pretty cute.

"Yes," I answered. "And do you realise that you're in a girl's dorm? You'd better clear off before some professor catches you... " The boy waved his hand in dismissal.

"Not like I care for the rules," he said in a bored voice. "They're meant to be broken anyway..."

[Cxjenious]

Draken Lionhart

"...well anyway, if you ever want an audience, just ask for Draken."

My exit was sudden and abrupt, and unbeknowingst to the girls in the room, my head was pounding with hunger. I hadn't eaten in a long time.

"Ask who?!" screamed the girl who I'd been talking to.

"Anyone! Especially teachers," I screamed back, quickly making my way out of the girl's dorm. I didn't want to get punished on my first day. Following my instincts, and the eniticing smell floating the corridors, I made my way towards the dining hall.

The journey there was quite troublesome, as I wound up in the wrong place almost a dozen times. Soon my hunger started to make me hallucinate, or at least I thought I was, because I saw a kid with orange-tipped hair that looked rather odd. On further inspection, I realized I wasn't hallucinating, and the kid's hair really was orange tipped.

"Hey, you!" I yelled, getting the kid's attention. He looked to be no older than me, but no younger than me neither. He was tall, but still a few inches shorter than me, but looked formidable enough.

I wonder if he's participating in the tournament...

When he finally acknowledged me, my face was contorted into one of impatience and fury. However, when I felt his gazed, it changed back to its usual smug look, and I yelled to him again.

"Any idea when dinner starts?"

[Slikx]

Aeroneth Illuminescence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My food trance had been lifted, as I was snapped back into reality by someone. I turned around to face the offender. Turned out to be a pretty big guy, and pretty well built. But I've always been wary, and I know that just 'cause you're bigger, doesn't mean that makes you better. But, of course I shouldn't quickly judge people. He was also lookin' pretty smug, so I decided to do the same.
"Hey, any idea when dinner starts?!" he called, in an almost masterly sort of way.
"I don't know, if you see food, then it's dinner time, okay?" I retorted. "Do you see any food?"
"Well, yes." he admitted. "Shall we eat then?"
"Wait a second," I started. "Who the heck are you anyway? I mean, I don't often dine out with strangers."
"Well, I'm Draken Lionheart." he said. "But y'know, there's a hell of a lot of strangers here, and you'd better ditch the hostile attitude, it's called, making friends."
I laughed. "Whoa, strangers and friends are two different things, but, I think I'm skilled enough, so I should be okay."
The aroma of awesome food was absolutely intoxicating. I welcomed it, because this could only mean that for the next six years, I’d be living off good food. Can’t wait. When it was finally our turn to be served, I licked my lips as I saw all the good food coming our way. Roast steaks, chickens, chip potatoes. Salads littered the tables like crystals, sparkling as the candlelight reflected off of it. There were vegetables for the helping of anything you could imagine, baked pumpkins, carrots with honey, but I didn’t dare touch the zucchini, it’s horrible.
I didn’t talk as I ate, only kept tearing up the steaks like a wild animal, and stuffing myself to my heart’s content. I heard next to me that Draken was doing the same, so it couldn’t’ve been only me that thought the food was awesome. Anyway, we ate for the better part of an hour without stopping, and the chefs never failed to let us down, as every time a salad was finished, another one would replace it, in a guaranteed five minutes. They probably used magic to keep replenishing the steaks, they always disappeared, but it was like it was an everlasting dish. I wasn’t about to complain about that.
After dinner, I staggered to the East tower, and almost got lost again, because I still hadn’t remembered where my room was, and it was purely by coincidence I found it, and I lay awake for some time, thinking about what life would be like here, and what to do tomorrow. It was then I forgot to ask Draken what subjects he was doing, but being compulsory for us all to do something like armed combat, and he certainly didn’t look like an archer to me, that I guessed there was a strong possibility I’d see him again tomorrow morning.

[MaHa_sHaDoWs]

~Durzah Brai~

The professor in the front droned on and on, and after several minutes I was staring at the walls and ceiling. Things it seemed, could only go up from the lectures we were receiving after being here only a couple days.

I hoped that the food was good here, if it was anything like the hospital food that I had tasted, since as a child I had broken several bones, I refuse to stay here anymore! I doubted that they would have that bad of food here, but the real question was how hungry am I getting from thinking about food?

I tried to stop thinking about food, and occupied myself instead by cupping my hands together and making a miniscule lightning bolt jump to different points in my palm. I dazzled myself even, as one particular blast jump through my hands and struck near my forehead. Luckily the only thing burnt was my dignity, though it seemed my hair slightly stood on end after that. The fact that I even was able to do magic still amazed me, and though I knew others also could I couldn't help taking a little pride in myself. Yet I still doubted such a small spark would be useful against anyone but the weakest of magic users.

After the unruly spark hit my forehead, I was needless to say wounded in dignity enough to stop. Instead I immmersed myself in watching another magic user, that was "showing off" by manipulating fire. Though the smile on his face as he did so seemed quite idiotic, the fact that he could do any magic gave me enough cause to watch. Yet one fact stood that I was a tad bit afraid of fire. In my life their had been many fires, the real ones and the imaginary ones that were mentally destructive to me.

After the dreary lecture concluded I almost felt like skipping out of the room, but that to me seemed to be a tad bit weird of a thought. I instead took a slower trip back to my room, and though I was just slightly lost in the maze of hallways, it was interesting to see things along the way. I reached my room and entered reluctantly, once inside I began to look through several yet unopened compartments in my trunk. You see my foster parents found it quite necessary to stuff several books into my bags whenever and wherever I traveled. I hoped for once that they had snuck them in there though, as they were magic users and that must mean they would give me a more interesting read now that I knew their little secret. I skimmed the titles and to my luck several appeared that had titles relating to the earth and wind elements. I was overjoyed that they thought to put these in and hoped that I would find the time to read them soon.

I took a minute or two (or ten) to rearrange the objects in my room. Neatness was definitely one of my faults. I was almost Obsessive-Compulsive in the way I kept things orderly, but unlike real Obsessive-Compulsive patients, I could stand things a tad out of place (possibly). After I finished this habitual rearranging and tidying up I left the room in hope of finding a little more time to explore the maze of hallways, maybe even memorize the route to my room, as it was a possibility, with my memory. I was like an elephant, but much skinnier, smaller, and shorter, and less gray. Okay maybe I was in no way similiar to an elephant except mentally in the sense that "elephants never forget" but why did I have to debate myself so!

The halls held many interesting things and I was also glad to find a place where class times were posted, Wind first thing tommorow morning. I gave a mental jump for joy in seeing that I wouldn't have to stand too many more lectures.

After wandering aimlessly through the halls, and swearing to myself that I would remember the location of my room, I caught the scent of dinner. The scent drew me in like a moth to a flame, though I wished I would stop using cliches. I followed it until I entered the grand dining room. Shy as I am I felt quite uncomfortable sitting anywhere and settled in an unoccupied area of one table and began to stuff my face quite vigorously. The things that lay before me made me wish I had never tasted anything else. I promised myself I would save room for dessert, but the taste of the Pork Chops stopped me. I took a bold bite of the zucchini and found it wasn't that bad. I figured that I needed something at least remotely healthy in my life so I had several. I stumbled as I got up and almost fell flat on my face. I smiled sheepishly as several girls looked at me. They smiled back and I was relieved of my embarrassment.

I found my way back to my room easily this time and was quite glad that I was not lost in the hallways, as I probably would have fallen over and went to sleep. After putting on my comfy pajama pants that I liked so much and ripping off my socks (I hates socks!) I opened one of the books on the History of Magic. But before I managed to read the second page I was asleep and content. But the dream world was not pleasant and I woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat and freezing cold, though I had several blankets. The fires continued to haunt my unconscious mind as I slept, and when I fell asleep again the nightmare resumed. I could feel the memories flooding back, as well as the immense sadness that now began to become so thick in the air around me, I may have grasped it with my hand.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC: Sorry if there's some typos in there but I was in a hurry.

[*GuyPersonDude*]

im so sorry.......but i cant stay in this RPG see you all some other time Bye

[MaHa_sHaDoWs]

Slikx I don't know if you want anyone to post, as I was wary at going into the classes themselves. Do you mind if I post on a class?

[Slikx]

Sure, I'm more than happy for you to create whatever you like. It's not just my rpg, I'm not some dictator y'know. It sometimes gets a little hard on me if you guys always get me to do everything, and you guys write experiences relating to that. Please feel free to do it the other way.

Aeroneth Illuminescence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Geez, it was so peaceful, the bed was so comfortable, and I snuggled into my pillow. I heard a bell going off somewhere in the distance, and I knew that I should be getting up by now. But...I couldn't, I was just so tired...last effort, I raised my hand above me, and pointed it towards my chest. It took a little while, but eventually a spark shot through to me, and electrocuted me wide awake. Goddammit I hate doing that to myself, but it works so well! Maybe I should consider doing it to everyone else too...
Anyway, I threw on my uniform, with my cloak on top, and trudged down the tower, and followed my nose to the dining hall. It took less time this morning, as I had a vague sense of direction, and the smell of frying bacon was like a beacon of light in the dark.
Anyway, I ate breakfast, a delicious one to be exact, and then messed around, talking to people at the tables and decidedly friendly. Breakfast was served at 7:45 everyday, and by 9:00 we were expected to be at classes. No worries, though I just wish I knew where the hell I was. I had basic armed swordfighting class. I checked the main noticeboard again, then made my way to...the edge of the outside forest?.. I hadn't gone in there before, and I didn't think it was wise to, considering all I could do with a sword is flail helplessly.
The walk there seemed to take forever, it took me half an hour alone just to get out of the castle. But finally I arrived there, and marvelled at what I saw. A clearing was there, with marble tiles stretching across the ground, so it reminded me of a room, opened up to the heavens. The trees lining either side resembled the walls, which were so thick I couldn't have seen through a single layer of trees. But on one side, the side I was facing, there were no trees at all. Instead, it was the edge of the floating continent, and opened up as a gateway to the land below. I shuddered to think what would happen if i were to fall down accidentally. Perhaps I might be able to save myself, but I'd never be able to return here.
I turned around, and saw that more students were assembling here, and among them, Draken and Flamehair. Everybody was looking so serious, eyeing each other that I laughed. It was as if we were supposed to fight each other right now and the one who wasn't dead at the end could go back to the fortress. Eventually a stern looking professor came along, his cloak quite stretched, so I figured he was wearing an armour of some sort. By his waist a sword hung, and his brought along a cart of various equipment.
"Good morning ladies and gentleman, I'm Professor Brazenforge, and as you know, I'm your teacher for this subject." He smiled suddenly, lightening up his face, and the tense atmosphere seemed to vanish with his smile. "Well, I figured that this morning, most of you are new to this subject, so I'll tell you what, we'll spend this lesson with combat techniques. But before we do that, I must do the roll." He pulled out a scroll, and began reading names from it. "Hawknight, Helmslay." I saw Flamehair raise his hand, and reallised at once that Flamehair couldn't've been his real name. I heard Draken's name somewhere in it too, and mine too. But I wanted to begin training, and became restless after my name was called out.
So we did just that. Those of us who didn't have their own swords were allowed to go pick their own from the cart he had brought. I too eagerly went to see if there was anything cool, but was disappointed when I saw that the cart was just full of old mythril and iron swords, with a few flamebrands and icebrands. I wanted to see the cool stuff in action.
We did defensework and attacking patterns with our partners, and he taught me a different style of attacking, because while the majority of students had swords that were straight, mine was curved, and made for a different sort of attacking. My movements were much more fluent, and involved more slicing than heavy hitting. It probably suited me more as well, as I was generally quite fast. When a student was cut by a superb blow from a sword, I saw the professor heal him within an instant. I reallised how much work it must require to become a teacher, to always be on the watch for your student, and to be able to heal them in any situation.
When the professor came to inspect how I was doing, I decided to be a bit smart in my defending patterns, just for the sake of being different. He gave a quiet smile, then asked me.
"How about you defend one of my attacks then?"
I took the challenge up at once, and unsheathed Gungnir to reflect the light and look somewhat newer than it actually was.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
I nodded, always watching his arms like he told us to. He drew out his sword, and I gasped. It was a brand new Genji sword. I had always dreamed about wielding one of them, this years model was so cool...It was easily much stronger than mine, and I believe he could have sliced it through me and my sword in one hit, it was that powerful and sharp. But to own one was almost impossible..They were so versatile in it's uses that one needed to undergo many tests just to be able to wield it, and it must've cost...just so much money. I braced.
He took an effortless blow, and I blocked it, taking it's full power, and getting knocked away by the force of it, dropping my sword and flying back about ten feet.
I sat up, coughing, completely in awe.
"Sir!" I spluttered. "Please let me see your Genji sword!"
"No," he smiled once again "It's very dangerous if you don't know how to use it, it can make you very unstable. But you must also see, that your ways of defending musn't be attempted on your first lesson. I don't teach you techniques that are worthless, so you must try to respect them. Now, your technique wasn't wrong, but you took the full force of the blow, and that's what swept you completely away. If you wish to attempt that technique, you must attack before the peak of my blow. Understand?"
I nodded. He picked up my sword, and examined it, a gleam in his eye.
"Gungnir?" he asked, his eye with the same expression. "I have no doubt that it is in excellent hands, maybe you can do what no-one else has been able to do in the last millenium..." he paused. "You know that is of course, exploiting it's maximum power."
I was surprised he knew about it. "But nothing is as good as a Genji, right?"
He shook his head. "The Genji is nothing compared to the full power of the Gungnir. In fact, I feel an essence of the potential power of the Gungnir flowing through you right now...You have something special, for not even I can light up the runes on the Gungnir."
With that, the class ended, and I was left feeling disheartened at being beaten in one easy blow, but also pondering the words of Professor Brazenforge. I couldn't ever be as good as he was, but he said I could...But hell, I'll ponder that tonight, I decided as I sheathed the Gungnir and headed to my next class. Hell, I don't even know what it is.

[Cxjenious]

Draken Lionheart

The morning air sneakily slipped into my partially opened window, filling my nose with th aroma of awakeness: and that was something I didn't want to be. Instead of procrastinating, seeing as how my first class was my pre chosen favorite, I hurridly got ready, almost instantly washing and throwing on my uniform. I made sure to grab my trusty katana, and headed towards the Mess Hall.

After consuming almost half my weight in food, I left for the "outside forest". It didn't take me very long to get there, and that was great because I left rather late. When I arrived, I saw that Aeroneth was already there, and I nodded towards him. He also had a curved sword. And it was a Gungir.

I wonder were he got that sword from...he must be special...or just really lucky!

The class went by rather uneventfully. Part was due to the fact that the professor was teaching things I already knew, and my partner was horrible. He couldn't even get his stance right. However, just when I though things were at there worse, Aeroneth fought with the professor. He failed miserably, blocking the prof.'s attack so that he took the full force of the blow.

I wonder how I'd fair against the professor...his stance was kind of opened, but his speed and power more than made up for it...

The class ended rather abrubtly, and no homework was given *thank god*, and we left to head towards our next class. I think I had Earth next, but I wasn't sure. It was then that I remembered what Prof. Brazenforge had said about Aeroneth's Gungir, so I decided to catch up to him. He looked to be a promising swordsman, and going against my nature of putting people down and stomping on their heads, I decided to help him become better. He seemed worth the time.

"HEY! AERONETH!"

He heard me calling along with the rest of the stdents in a one mile radius, and gradually slowed to a halt. I wrestled my way through the throng of students, finally catching up to him.

"If you ever wan't any additional help on basic armed combat, just call me. You looked like you could use some help on glancing off blows."

[MaHa_sHaDoWs]

~Durzah Brai~

As the time for class neared, I was still asleep in my bed. As if a red flag was waving in my head I suddenly jolted from bed and realized that I had unfortunately missed breakfast and cursed under my breath for it. Hastily I threw on my uniform and grabbed my bow as I wouldn't be caught dead using one of the school's. Quickly I rushed from the room and bulldozed a student that was in my way. Only when I was a good distance away did I yell "Sorry!" Back to the student I had knocked down. Yet I was thwarted as halfway there did I realize my blunder in not brushing my teeth and I checked my breath while no one was watching. I was hit by a little too rancid of a stench, and cringed at the thought of how others would feel. I hoped to god that I didn't have to talk to anyone today, though that seemed entirely impossible.

After several more minutes of running I reached my class outside the school, out of breath and embarrassed. I was not exactly late but it seemed that I was definitely the last one there, which might not look the best. The instructor was a tall and slim middle-aged man named Professor Delany; a serious expression crossed his face and he looked like he was all business. He waited a moment as the students without a bow grabbed for one out of the cart that he had brought and told us to line up facing the row of targets a hundred yards away. He supplied each student with a batch of arrows, before he instructed are group on basic archery techinique. I caught his eye as I almost dozed off during this, and he gave me a cold glare that woke me up in an instant. Minutes later he simply let us have our first go. The pandemonium that ensued was quite humorous, as several students misfired upwards, downwards, and some somehow managed to make themselves fall over. Prof. Delany was quite angry and took these blundering students aside to reinstruct them on proper bow technique, the others like myself he told to continue shooting.

A time later the Professor noticed my obvious superiority among the rest of the group, as most of them had never shot a bow before, or was poorly trained in it. He slowly made his way over, holding his own bow in his hand and gazed on as I shot arrow after arrow into the same central portion of the target. I hit the bullseye dead-on several times before he pulled an arrow out of his quiver, and silently pulled it back and released, sending it straight in to the middle of mine and splitting it down the middle. "There what do ye think of that!" He barked. I was determined to do better than him, and took an arrow out of my own quiver. Nocking it I pulled back and released fluently, sending it straight on top of the arrow he had just shot and splitting it as he had done. With this came an icy stare and I could tell he was slightly angered or maybe envious at what I had done. Nocking another arrow I watched as he pulled back as before, but this time a fiery aura surged through the arrow he had nocked. With a loud swish the he released and the arrow moved as a blur, and struck the target dead center. The target burst and shards flew everywhere. Several nearby targets had chunks taken off of them and many of the students applauded. Satisfied he walked away and left me awed at the stunt he had performed. Within minutes we were dismissed and I departed as fast as possible, as I didn't want any comments on how he had beaten me, and I definitely wasn't going to be late for another class.

[Slikx]

Aeroneth Illuminescence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I sat on the grass, still contemplating the raw power of Professor Brazenforge. Draken sat with me, trying to encourage me and provide tips on how to become a better swordsman. It didn't seem like him though, and I didn't want his help anyway. It's easy to assume that I was totally hopeless at all this after that humiliating experience, but the truth was that I had been trained. Even if I had defended slightly more succesfully, I think I would have still been blown away. What's more is that I felt more than just a blow when he struck me. There was certainly more than muscle, I felt raw magical energy flowing through him, emitting from him, and when expressed through something as magnificent as a Genji, it just blew me away. I doubt that most of the senior students at the Academy would have that much magical energy, let alone be able to defend against it.
Anyway, I didn't want to harp on it, I'd rather ponder about it back at the dorms, or if I had some free training time. I heard that after the final lesson for the day, students are able to go and do their club things. I think I'd joined the beast slaughtering club, and that would be cool, as it was so random that you'd never know what you're up against. I spent the rest of the break talking to Draken about the professor's awesome Genji sword, and talking about all the recent models. I still say the prof's Genji has got to be the best though. I certainly can't imagine the Gungnir being stronger than it.
In exactly half an hour, the bell rang, and we went to our different classes. Draken had like...archery or Earth or something, I forgot. But I had wind, something I was very eager to learn about.
I got there on time, though late enough to earn a glare from the female mage taking this class.
"Good morning class.." she began in the same way that Professor Brazenforge had begun, but I didn't think she'd be as relaxed as Brazenforge. And of course she wasn't. She gave a short lecture about the four elements, and then praised us for choosing to study wind. "We'll split up into groups of four, and then I'd like you all to concentrate, feel your energy coursing through you like a breeze, then all of you focus it into the centre. If it's done successfully, you should see something interesting."
So we did just that. We were completely randomized, and I found myself with another guy, and two girls. What sort of Aeroneth would I be if I couldn't even do the spell I was named after? Of course it was a breeze for me, and while the others in my group struggled, I took pleasure in blowing them away a few metres when I got bored. They began to get the idea of it soon, but I'm arrogant enough to say that I'm still better. I already knew what would happen if all of us conjured winds while in a circle, but I let them see for themselves. It took a few goes, because sometimes someone would muck up, or our timing was completely haywire, but eventually we got it, and in the centre of our four winds a little tornado was formed, hanging on to a tiny cloud. It still swept the ground reallistically though, and when one of the girls in my group created some flames inside it, it was a beautiful firetwister. It was times like that that I regret not doing fire, I mean, I could turn the Gungnir into some sort of monster.
After the tornado sort of ran out of steam, it stopped spinning so rapidly, and eventually was just swept away by the gentle breeze. Most of the other groups were still having trouble co-ordinating themselves, but some of them had done it. I answered by throwing a few gusts at them, knocking their tornadoes around, and them too. But, you don't often get away with that sort of thing in this class, and the wind mage soon called me up, and gave me a quiet, but stern word about interfering with other student's learning. I soon learnt that at the academy, professors were usually too professional to get angry at students, and had other ways of making us feel like trash. And as a general stem of conversation, she told me that she had heard about my ordeal in the morning, and told me not to be disheartened, for she knew of very few that were able to fight Professor Brazenforge successfully, and less that could defeat him when he was at maximum energy. That eased me up, very slightly, and she gave me a quiet word about my wind prowess, and sent me off to a different clearing on "detention", to practice some wind slashing with my Gungnir. I decided that while stern, I liked this Professor just as much.
I went off into the clearing, and did what she asked, I brought out the Gungnir, and made rythmic slashing strokes, producing blade-like gusts of wind, which severed branches from trees. But they took me a long time to learn, and are quite hard to concentrate. I wonder if she knew I could do that beforehand, because I'd be looking pretty stupid if I just bludged this time.
The rest of the period passed quickly, and I merged with the crowd. Lessons were over for today and I wanted to do some monster slaying.

[Cxjenious]

Draken Lionheart

As Aeroneth headed to his next class, I felt that he didn't want my help on defense techniques, and I started to suspect that he new the defense techniques already, and tht it was simply a matter of confidence.

My next class was Earth, something that I really wanted to study, because I felt rather close to Mother Gaia. I had sort of "bonded" with the wilderness when I was younger, due to the fact that my insane bastard of a father was a drunk, so I didn't like staying home very much. With my sword still in hand, I hurried of to my next class,that was somewhere out in the woods, arriving just on time. Oddly enough, the teacher was a woman, middle-aged, with earthly brown hair with green highlights. There was an earthly feel about her, and I guessed that was what she wanted, since she was the Earth teacher. Not to mention, she wasn't to bad looking.

"Good morning class," she blared out, interupting my thoughts. I was suprised that such a loud and commanding voice could come from such a fragile looking woman. Mayber there was more to her than the eyes could see...

"Tody you will learn the most basic of earth magic techniques. If you want to learn how to fly or throw fire balls, I suggest you leave now, because my class will involve much deeper magic that is closer to the soul, and the spirit."

There were a few murmers, and I saw a few people shift from there standing positions. I started to move, only intending to get closer to hear what she was saying. It was then that she noticed me. I guessed later that she thought I was trying to leave.

"Hey! You there! Where do you think you're going."

I looked up rather stupidly, recieving a couple of giggles from my fellow students. I noticed that the majority of them were female. "Me?" I asked, pointing at myself. She nodded her head yes. "I was going to move closer, because I couldn't fully hear what you were saying."

"Likely story," she whispered to the girls infrint of her, who immedeately started to giggle. "Come here. Now!"

I regained my composure, and all acts of courtesy during the day left my mind. Befriending Aeroneth was having quite an effect on my psyche. With face solid and stern, I made my way towards the front of class. The teacher saw me more clearly, and gasped. She wasn't expecting someone as bif and as good looking as myself to come forward.

"Well Mr...."

"Draken...Draken Lionheart," I said, still keeping my composure.

"Mr. Lionheart, I suggest you get here earlier next time so you can get closer," she said, blushing slightly."

"Yes ma'm."

"You will be partnering up with me for today's excercises, okay?"

I nodded yes, and went back to my spot.

"Today you'll learn how to use herbal medicines, a very crucial part of earth magic."

I saw some of the girls eyes brighten, but my face remained stern and solemn. The rest of the lesson whent by easily. It wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't a breeze either. I was just ready to learn the difficult stuff. Coupled with my sword prowress, the defensive magic of the earth branch of magic would be quite helpful. When class was dismissed, Professor Gia called me up. Gia was her first name.

"I sense that you think studying herbal medicine is a waste of time?"

"No, it's just that I'm ready for the harder stuff, that's all." My face went back to regular mode. I now looked smug and confident, and sensing that I would be getting in trouble, I started to make my puppydog eyes

"If I were you, I'd enjoy this easy stuff while I still can." She touched me on my shoulder, and pulled me close. "You'll do great things with earth magic Draken. I can just feel it!" she whispered into my ear. She had to stand on her tippy-toes, and she was still a few inches short of my ear, but I heard her loud and clear. "Now head on to your next class. I think we'll have enough time to talk later," she said, smiling. With an even more smug look on my face, I headed back to the main castle to figure out which club I'd joined.

[Slikx]

Aeroneth Illuminescence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was talking with some of the girls in Draken's Earth class when I finally saw him, and waved him over. People here seemed friendly enough, but I noted that some students in the class were in their twenties, while others were as young as I were. That'd make for some very interesting...err, situations I guess. I didn't reallise that there were so many skilled people in different fields. Most of the girls I had talked with, in my wind class, and people I'd asked about Draken's Earth class were commonly studying white magic. I didn't have much of an idea about it, but I admire those who do.
Finally, I turned to Draken. "So, I heard you got it on with your Earth prof' eh? First day and you're already pullin' them in huh?" I gave a short laugh, and I saw him pull an indignant scowl, he was ready to retaliate. I didn't let him answer though, and interrupted by saying: "Hey, come with me to monster slaying. Can't go wrong with monster slaying, right?"
I saw him give me a look that half wanted to hit me, half wanted to agree. He was thinking hard. "No worries Draken, we've got the rest of the afternoon." I think that finally made him decide he was going to beat me. It was going to be an awesome match. Both arrogant, and one of us was going to win.
We made our way to...I forget, I think it was the intermediate forest, as it housed a random showcase of monsters, and some of them were definitely right up there in the advanced forest. But to get there, we needed a note from a teacher, and on first day, I wasn't that eager to get eaten by some behemoth. I'd heard the sorts of things you could find in there was absolutely awesome. There were spirits there, which you had to have a strong foundation in both combat skills and magic to take on, because magic on it's own wouldn't hurt it very much, a spirit's spirit was like an elemental plate of armour. So there were many techniques to defeating one... Other things I'd heard about were the infamous behemoths and red dragons. Oh! And the malboros, my parents used to tell me stories about how disgusting they were. My mum would rather take on giant spiders than face malboros. But I'd have to see for myself.
"Hey, Draken." I said, "Y'know, we've gotta get into that Advanced Forest sometime, I've heard like everything lives there. How cool does it sound?"
"You're on." He accepted. "And then I'll show you once and for all I'm better than you."
I laughed. A whispy looking professor took the club, and didn't participate at all unless it was to banish a monster from eating someone, or to give remedies to those injured. I guess that she must have also been fully qualified in Earth and White magic to be able to make sure all students were safe, but she'd also need to be proficient at taking on the monsters, and a knowledge about everything in the intermediate forest. Beside her was another wagon of equipment, but like in our combat class, I expected there was nothing better than an icebrand in there.
With no reason to linger, Draken and I entered the forest. It was dark, and I pulled out Gungnir. The little energy left in it glowed dimly, and while it wasn't very bright, it helped us see our surroundings. I saw Draken's sword too, and it didn't resemble anything I'd seen before, so I presumed that he must've forged it, or obtained it from someone who had. I saw it was a combination of things, stone included. But now wasn't the time to discuss swords.
We paused suddenly. I could hear....wings flapping? In a place like this...it probably meant...I took a slash in front of me, and heard something fall to the ground. Yeah, vampire bats alright. To my right, I heard a slash, and a thud, and Draken still in his fighting stance. I suppose he must've got one too. But there was more than two...I could hear more wings now...In the dim light, I could see that in the distance, not just a few bats were coming, a whole swarm of them were coming.
"Draken, I don't know what you'd do normally, but this is no time to play the hero. If you wanna lose a gallon of blood in the process, I won't stop you, but I think we should move. Fast." I said.
He stared resiliently in front, as if the decision had frozen him.
"Fine." I conceded. "We'll take a rush through, okay?"
There was still no response, but I sensed that he agreed. I pulled my stance into one I'd use for a rush. Beside me, he did the same. We were one mind now, and we ran together, swords bared, our eyed fixated on our enemy.
It seemed to pass by in a second. I felt bites on me, I was definitely bleeding. But in that same second, I'd taken what seemed like a hurricane of blows. Beside me, I heard nothing but a blade whistling through the air, and the vampire bats dropping out of the sky. I think it was then that we decided to abandon all rationality. No, stuff the idea of being conservative, we ran out to greet our enemy, and I had an idea. A...hurricane of blows did I say? That's exactly what we needed. I felt my energy running through me, it felt like a refreshing breeze, and gave me strength. All the running and slashing had got my energy flowing, and I focused a great barrier of wind around us. We were in the eye of a tornado. It was far too strong for the vampire bats to get through, and it was our turn to rock. I sent the tornado around us into into gusts in every direction, and it seemed that almost fifty bats had been taken down in the sweep. Those that remained were flying disorientatedly, some had wings broken, and Draken and I swept through, dispatching of the last of them.
We collapsed in a heap next to each other. I was incredibly tired, magic took alot out of you, and I reallised that we couldn't leave right now, we were on such a roll. I pulled up my sleeve, and I didn't like what I saw. My arm was full of bites, some still bleeding, and it left me feeling quite faint. Next to me, I saw that Draken bore the same wounds. Monster slaying isn't all just glory, I reallised. I'm glad I didn't try sneak into the advanced forest.
After our first encounter, we found it gradually easier to take out some of the other fiends in the forest. Two poison toads barred our path once, and luckily we were wary of their poison, because it would've been the end of our training for the day. A quick slash was enough to finish it. Draken did the same.
I remember the next thing we did was make our way down a hill, into a small valley clearing. Here, the light was stronger, and it gave us energy. What I was kinda worried about though was where everyone else was. I'm sure there was a few of us in this forest, so I suppose we must be quite far in...Or maybe... My answer was presented to me, ten feet tall, and even longer. It had a shell that even a Genji would need to think about. It should've easily been in the advanced forest, so what the hell was it doing here? It was an Adamantoise.

[Sakura12]

Sorry I haven't been active in this RPG. I will try to post over the coming weekend, seeing that I might not be free for the next few days, and I have to logoff soon. Really need to catch up on the sleep...

[Aeges_Ateri]

RPG --> X_X
Sorry I haven't posted!

~Durzah Brai~

I had wind next, joy! Hoping that my next Professor wasn't as arrogant as the last, I rushed to the next class. Arriving on early this time, I took time to take a choice seat in the front. It seemed everyone was there, but just as she was beginning a boy came in and she glared. In a loud, commanding voice she said, "Good Morning," and then went on to introduce herself as Professor Austerus. I had the feeling that she wouldn't be much of a laid back teacher, and as I thought this she began to give us a lecture on the four elements promptly. Not wanting to get on her bad side I took some rather sloppy notes, but sufficient nevertheless. Despite her commanding tone and unrelaxed ways, I rathered like this woman. Besides with a strict teacher we were sure to get more things done than with one laid back.

After she finished her lecture, which lasted quite a long time, she split us up into groups of four. I really didn't care what group I was in as I didn't know anyone here anyway. I luckily was put in a group with three girls, this should be fun I couldn't help thinking. Austerus proceeded to tell us to concentrate, and feel are energy as if it were a breeze, then focus and supposedly something interesting would happen. I waited to see two of the girls in are group successfully do it within seconds, creating a large breeze. The other seemed somewhat less proficient, and took a while. I finally forced myself to also try, though I didn't know if I would produce the "desired" effects. Concentrating it took me only seconds to gather my energy, but the resulting effect was not what I wanted to happen. Instead of causing a light breeze I managed to command a large bolt of electricity to strike down in the middle of our circle. Though that was where I willed it to go, I believe I managed to singe two of the girls trousers as they didn't step back in time. I smiled sheepishly and watched for any sign of movement in my group but they just stared. Then I saw Austerus slowly stand up and walk over to our circle. She smiled slyly and said, "Do it again," then calmly waited. Not wanting to disobey I did as she asked and summoned up my energy again. As if I were trying to impress her, the resulting bolt managed to strike the mirrored ground and send out a large shower of blue and yellow sparks. Several turned there heads to see what the noise had been while others still kept to their work. Austerus lost her strictness for a moment, and began to smile and nod.

After class I was quite overjoyed that I had a teacher that liked me. She had seemed proud that one of her students had taken such an instant knack to the craft. Despite my wish not to appear like I was better in front of my classmates I couldn't help thinking that. Dismissing this I walked back to my room, as I currently had not joined a club and proceeded now with a new confidence to read out of one of the several books my parents had bought for me. 101 Ways To Manipulate Wind Energy, this book happened to be full of long descriptions of certain weather related spells and as I read I was overjoyed that I had found something I was quite good at. Now all I had to do was learn how to infuse my arrows with wind energy!

[Cxjenious]

"Holy ****," I whispered, fear quickly taking my speech away from me. A look of utter horror washed over my face, but was quickly erased by a look of arrogance. The Adamantoise was nothing but another challenge. I stared into its eye's, realizing that it thought of me as nothing but a pebble in the grass. Something in the way. I frowned. Here I was thinking of how challenging it would be to battle an Adamantoise, and the stupid turtle only thought of me as a pebble?!

"Gggggrrrhhhh," I yelled, raising my blade, preparing to attack the turtle. It would pay dearly for underestimating me.

I concentrated some of my magic energy into pulling up a piece of the earth. The ground rose just in time, blocking the sharp beak of the Adamantoise. I jumped to the side, and took a quick slash at its leg. Hardly any damage at all. I rolled to the right, and slashed at the leg again, just barely dodging another sta from it's beak.

"Aeroneth! You can join in any time you want," I yelled at my companion. He looked rather dumbfounded, but I couldn't blame him. Only the most insane people attacked an Adamantoise alone.

Utilizing my earth powers, I concentrated, and pulled up a small hunk of the earth, and thrust it at the turtle's head. I then hopped into his back, A took a swing at the back of his neck. Once again, only minimal damage. Defeating this monster would be very difficult.

[Aeges_Ateri]

~Durzah Brai~

When I first opened the book I found that most of the spell in there were obviously out of my league, huge hurricanes, giant thunderstorms, about anything gigantic. Finally I managed to turn to a section that seemed more my level, if not slightly above it. The first page had the top section ripped off and though it didn't seem safe to do a spell without a proper idea of its effect, curiosity took me. This spell seemed much like the breeze spell, and all I did was summon up some energy, no complicated chanting, or anything in that category. But as I welled up the energy and released it, I felt nothing. I looked around and it seemed nothing had happened, but then I noticed my limbs. It seems I had undoubtably cast invisibility, since when were illusion spells in the wind category? I waved my invisible hand in front of my face to make sure I was not dreaming, and then grinned. This spell might be slightly useful later. Assuming that the rest of the instructions were the counter, I attempted to draw back the energy, and watched as my self-placed visage slowly crawled back into my hands. Now confident that I could do something more than this category of spells I turned to a harder section. The spell was aptly named "Rain Storm", someone was creative. This one required some elaborate hand movements, and copying the pattern I went into a trance. Suddenly I was chanting words I didn't know, and I could hear a sudden whoosh outside my window. There a "Rainstorm" was forming. The clouds abruptly started to downpour, and I thought I had never seen rain drops so utterly huge.

Entirely occupied for quite a long time, I wondered just how far my control of this rain was. I closed my eyes and found I could will the clouds where I wanted. I amused myself by moving them haphazardly in all directions, surely soaking the entire school grounds, and settled them over the forest. I felt the lust for power, and let energy surge through me. The rain picked up to immense proportions, and the rain itself seemed more a single wave then singular raindrops, as it was so tightly packed. Realizing that most of the students here had undoubtably noticed my rainclouds by now, I reached to pull them back. Instead I felt incredible resistance, and found myself breathing hard. I then noticed that my skin had gone a ghostly white, and I was sweating. I felt all my energy wrenched from me, and I completely lost control of the raincloud and watched it continue to swell. Settling on my bed, exhausted, I marveled in fear at what exactly I had done. The cloud now engulfed the entire forest, and seemed as if it were a huge tsunami crashing down from above. BIG trouble... was all I could think as I blacked out on my bed. I definitely have more power than I thought.
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OOC: Draken and Aeroneth are going to have some further complications it seems! An Adamantoise and now giant rainstorms! Yippee!

Durzah is completely wiped at this point, and you can expect him to be awakening in a hospital wing.