Chapter 8

Training

Meeting new people had always seemed useless to me when hatred was the end result. I have never been interested in making new friends that could not comprehend the complexity of people's lives.

It was a new day, my very first training was to begin that day. Not long after we gathered in the cafeteria for some lunch, we were told to move to the training room.

Lysander made it very clear that until I was good enough to handle myself I would not be allowed to compete nor train with the other students.

This time, it was different coach I saw and I was not too comfortable with that idea of my whole training being a mystery to the other students.

After introducing himself, we began by stretching and learning basic defense strategies before moving forward to another lecture with a potion cultivator.

My entire day was stressful and I felt exhausted to the point that I fell asleep immediately I laid on my bed.

The next day I woke up by 5 O'clock to begin my training. I was getting a hang of it without constantly wanting to run for cover whenever we began a hand to hand combat.

I was told that it would take a while before I could join the other students in their activities but if I do finish all my training on time, I can participate in the upcoming rank test.

Training everyday, every week, being able do things that I couldn't do before was a big achievement and now I could defend myself, I can now cultivate potions.

All this was really a stepping stone for me as my mind was now more focused on going back home, the only way to make that happen is by getting stronger everyday.

The test was around the corner leaving me with two weeks of training. I was still confined to my room even though I was given the liberty to only go to cafeteria when I am hungry.

The two weeks ran fast leaving me in the dust as anxiety set in, my palms were sweaty. I started feeling nauseous but that was the least of my worries as I told that since I'm was a newbie I had to go through all the other new students to get to the top before competing with the last set of finalists.

The first round started of with techniques, according to the rules, the most amount of defensive techniques that you display will help you advance to the next level.

I must say my opponent did not leave any chance for recovery from any of her hits, so I targeted the parts that she left open, she staggered backwards before charging towards me.

I heard her chant some spells before I started feeling dizzy and nauseated but due to the intensive training I had, I knew how to counterattack her spells.

It caught her by surprise when I gave her a slap knocking her to the floor, without giving her any chance to retaliate I kicked her in the face leaving her unconscious. The bell was rang announcing me the winner. I had to go through series of tests before reaching the semi final battle which would take place tommorow afternoon.

After leaving the hall, I walked to my room with my shoulders lowered due to fatigue. I said hi to Corey and his friends before bumping into Heather.

She looked at me with so much spite but that didn't faze me at all because I knew that to get to the top you had to grow a thick skin to everyone's words.

She walked towards to me just to bump shoulders with me, on reaching my room, I found my door opened knowing fully well that I locked it when I left this morning before leaving.

Walking into the room I saw Lysander sitting on my bed with his legs crossed. When he saw me he asked me to take a sit.

" I hope you have been training hard enough to be the winner cause there is no room for failure." he said before he stood up to take his leave.

"I can definitely do my best" he smiled.

" Now we finally have an understanding, do keep in the mind that failure to be winner means a visit to Vega for a sleepover, do get enough sleep for tomorrow"

I stood up and went to take a shower before practicing some spells and going to bed.

Today was a bright day with a lot of obstacles in ahead of me. Heading to the cafeteria to get breakfast, I sat at the back of the cafeteria to eat peacefully and continue practice before the semi finale starts.

Leaving through the back door of the cafeteria, I took a short walk before heading to the training hall. I saw Corey and Heather having a heated conversation, when Corey saw me he smiled and then Heather walked away.

Corey moved towards to me and we both headed to the training hall. I was so glad that he didn't ask me any questions throughout the walk.

The hall was filled with students, some training while the others were stretching so I decided to just go and change before the tests began since there was just an hour left.

While changing my clothes Heather and Stacey walked over to me and before I could ask what they wanted Heather blew something like powder at me knocking out.

All I could hear was the sound of water droplets that immediately brought memories to me waking me up in an instant, looking around I was that I was tied up in the school's basement.

I struggled with the ropes but it didn't budge then i saw a vase sitting on an old worn out table, I crawled to the vase and then I used all my energy to try to knock down the vase.

The vase fell shattering to the ground, I picked up a piece of glass. I cut the rope and ran to the door but it was locked, there wasn't that much time left.

I saw that one of the windows was open, I mounted boxes on each other and climbed on it before reaching the window, I pushed the window to open more then I jumped out and ran with all the speed I could muster.

Reaching the hall they had already called me up to the stage and then Heather before calling me out once again, I pushed the door open I walked in, her face was full of shock as she wasn't expecting to see me.

I walked over to the stage looking her deep in the eyes before slapping her across the face. Everyone was surprised by my action, the entire audience was silent before the bell was sounded for the battle to begin.

I loved today's battle because it was fight to the death, it was high time I show them who is boss.

She ran over to me with full speed throwing her daggers at me, I doged each one of them, the moment I saw that she was getting tired I kicked the back of her head.

She staggered, turning back to face me we both exchanged blows before I got the upper hand then I took one of her daggers from her left pocket and stabbed her in the lap, giving her a had to the jaw.

She spat out blood due to the hit. With no room for recovery I stood over her and stepped on her repeatedly before kicking her ribs. Heather became unconscious making me the winner of the semi finale.

The last battle was to take place in the evening around 6:30 pm. Leaving the hall I went straight to my room to take a shower and relax a bit before going to deal with Stacey.

Getting myself ready, I went to the red dormitory and knocked on Stacey's door. Corey opened the door and smiled.

"Is Stacey in?"

"Yeah, come in" Corey said as he opened the door wide. I walked into the room and saw her dressing up in front of her closet. I pushed her making her to hit the closet. she had a cut to her face.

Immediately she turned to face me, I grabbed her hair turning her face slightly before slapping her on the cheek repeatedly. Corey and his friends rushed to separate us but I didn't let her go I continue to hit her till I felt better before taking my leave.

" Red what is going on, the red I know is always well composed and quiet" said Corey from behind me. A frown appeared on my face.

" What do you mean by that, the red you know, which red do you know?. Have you ever spent a day with me not to talk about knowing me, do you even know my real name?."

" That does not mean that I don't know a thing or two about you"

I just rolled my eyes, " you do not know me, please stick to your group of friends and don't act like you want to get to know me, oh do tell Stacey to stay out of my personal space unless she wants something more than this to happen again"

After having that argument with Corey I kind of felt bad, but I had to put that behind me as the final battle was awaits me.

We were not told what the theme of the fight was, so I went straight to the training hall early before all the other students started entering.

The fight began with Corey and Jacob, a guy from the orange team. Later, Vanessa and Stacey, the finally Heather and Becca.

The score board now had Corey, Vanessa and Becca to make it complete I had to fight against Rachel, another student from the orange team.

The fight started out steady, I couldn't handle how smooth it was going. It was going slowly making me impatient so I conjured one of the illusion spell then she started screaming.

At first I got scared then I heard a voice telling me to finish the spell, knowing full well that completing the spell could damage a person's mind. I did it regardless then her screams increased before she fell unconscious.

The referee said to wait for thirty seconds after which if she doesn't wake up I can move to the last fight. When the thirty seconds were almost over I saw her move immediately I chanted a sleeping spell on her.

The last fight was between Vanessa, Corey, Becca and I. This, I wasn't expecting but nothing can be done about it. We all started with each other me against Vanessa, Corey against Becca. Corey and I defeated them with large amount of bruises, now to finish all this Corey and I had to go head to head.

At the beginning, the air got chilly before getting extremely hot looking at him, he looked relax like none of this was affecting him.

It was then I realized that he possessed one of the Astria's people power that was having control over fire and ice. Then I tried the illusion spell on him but nothing happened instead it got hotter every time I conjured a spell.

I remembered when my mother told me about the people of Astria was that they are strong minded people, that the only way to weaken them was by bringing out one of their most painful moment.

I had to go through Corey's memory where I saw the death of his mother, I felt apologetic towards this action but winning was the only thing on my mind at this moment.

I brought forward that memory, instantly the atmosphere became less claustrophobic with that he walked out of the hall giving up on the fight.

I was crowned the winner now I was now a part of the red team. One of the things on my bucket list had been ticked off.