Awake

"Dark sphere! Dark sphere!" Christine said, a sign of exhaustion showing on her face.

"Thorny wall!" Casting a wall of vines, Elena shielded herself from the sphere of darkness. "Thorny vines!" The vines crept across the ground, heading towards Christine direction along with others forming behind her.

"Night's grasp!" Christine muttered as a faint veil of darkness spread round with the vines decaying on getting in contact.

"She's quite talented but still needs to work on controlling her reckless usage of mana. Looking at both, Elena seems to have more control of her mana." The old man said, resting his hand on his white beards.

"Dark sphere! Dark sphere! Dark sphere!" Casting three consecutive spells at once had depleted her mana core, causing her to stumble weakly.

Elena, seeing this, had charged forward, raising her hands up as a jet of water began to form above her.

"Fool!" Christine thought as she stretched forth her hand. "Shadow lash!" She exclaimed as she fell down on her knees.

The spell had hit Elena cleanly on her chest, sending her backwards. The shadow lash was a large range spell, which was quite hard to avoid, especially when close to the caster.

Elena had fallen for her tricks, letting her guard down.

"Christine Dolphine wins!" The referee declared as both went back to their position. Christine weakly walked back with a smile gracing her face.

"Both of you did great and have much to learn," the old man commended them.

The one who had acted as the referee walked out of the ring.The old man walked forward, calling forth the mages, and then giving them some advice and pointers concerning the little event.

"So, would any of you be able to defeat a mage?" Alfred asked once more.

"Of course! We warriors are stronger than the mages!" A large guy with bulging muscles said with a smug look.

"This is where their journey begins, as they advance in their stages they have more repertoire of skills to make use of. Also, they would be trained in close combat, further boosting their strength."

"Why is he telling us all these," Zephyr thought, trying to put the pieces of information together.

"Alright, let's go.The show is over." Master Alfred stood up, walking towards the old man.

"Thanks for coming," the old man said to him, escorting him out along with his students. Along the way, both were at the front, indulging in a conversation they couldn't hear.

Walking out of the room, they appeared outside the door.

"Pheew, here kinda feel plain after staying there for a while. It looks like another world there," Zephyr thought as they made their way back to their training hall.

"OK. You guys are to continue with your training, in a week time, you all will get a chance of collecting a skill book from the library."

"Also, a tournament is being planned by the higher ups... a tournament between the mages and warriors."He said, pausing for a moment.

"A tournament between us and the mages! That's awesome!" There were mutterings from various directions in the room as everyone was getting excited.

"The date hasn't been fixed yet, so you have enough time to prepare."

Master Alfred walked out of the room, heading back to his office. "That guy, he wasn't present today," he thought as he walked forward. "He has been missing the previous classes, I guess I should go and check on him."

With that, he changed direction, heading outside the building and into the bustling streets. He had taken with him a hat which he wore, shielding his face and hair from the light rainfall.

Stopping at a little building, he walked in. He dropped a few silver coins on the counter, "I will take the white one," he said to the man before the counter.

"Follow me," they both headed down the steps and into a long corridor with a short wooden door at the sides. The sounds of horses filled the room as they walked further in.

A few minutes later, he was out, riding atop a horse down the streets toward the valley. It wasn't long before he appeared before the field with the hut in sight. Getting closer, he saw a figure close to a tree that appeared to be lying on the ground.

"That's him," he mumbled as he moved towards his direction. Getting down from the horse, he approached the sleeping Alex or so he thought.

"Something doesn't feel right," he thought as he edged closer. Squatting down, he finally realised what was wrong.

"Darn! What have you done?!" Without placing his hands on his chest, he could feel Alex weak breathing and his body brimming with a lot of energy.

Swooping him from the ground, he carried him easily towards the hut. Setting him on the wooden table, he brought out a device and, without wasting much time, passed an information through.

He paced round the room with a worried expression. "How did he manage to form his dantian? What had gone wrong to put him in this situation?"

Looking through the window, he saw a man coming towards the hill on a horse. Stopping at the front, he stepped down from the horse, rushing into the hut.

"I came as soon as possible," the man said to Alfred. "What's the problem," looking round, his question had been answered. Approaching Alex, he stretched forth his hand over his face.

A soft glow emitted from his palm, which enveloped Alex's body. A soft sigh escaped Alex's lips as his breathing slowly became stable.

"I've calmed the raging energy within him for now, nothing appears to be wrong, I believe with enough rest he would wake up soon." The man said to Alfred.

"Thanks," Alfred replied, patting his shoulder lightly. They both walked outside as he saw the man off. "I hope it's just as he said," he muttered as he entered the hut. "I guess I should take him to his bed."

Lifting him once again, he carried him towards the only door which wasnt locked, entering a small room, he dropped him on the bed. He then went towards the kitchen preparing tea for himself.

~~~

It's been two days since Alfred saw Alex, and he had yet to make a recovery. Having called that same man to check on him, the result remained the same. Nothing was wrong, yet he hadn't regained consciousness.

"Fen is so going to kill me," Alfred thought, looking at Alex with a helpless expression. "C'mon, boy, fight whatever you're going through," Alfred muttered.

The days went by, and finally, Alex began to make some signs of movement. Also, a notable change had occurred. The influx of energy surrounding him had begun to die down.

"Thank goodness, with his dantian formed, his body would do the rest," Alfred thought with a sigh. He had heard news of Fen's return, and with his high-ranking status, it was easy for him to dismiss the classes for the week.

"I'm back," Fen declared loudly, walking through the high grasses across the area. The voice had managed to reach a certain someone lying on a little bed. His eye lids fluttered as he slowly came out from his state of unconsciousness.