The First Duel.

The rest of Chase's early classes passed swiftly, as he stepped into a large room with multiple platforms that he had assumed were stages. 

Racks of weapons, surrounded the room- both training weapons, as well as ones made from real steel. 

A nervous sigh escaped his lips, as he walked over to the wooden bleachers that a dozen or so other students were sitting at. 

Plenty of familiar faces, were waiting patiently along the many rows of seating. 

Michael, Gemini, as well as the blue haired boy from his first class, were some of them.

The black haired boy of The House of Everfrost motioned for Chase to come sit by him and the half dwarf boy. 

There were several other's he knew as well.

Including The Ivory Princess who sat by several other royal girls. The boy with glasses, and jet black hair who had seemed to be acquainted with Vivian from what he noticed in his Social Society class. 

Equan of The House of Lightning walked into the room behind Chase, and had been about to sit on the first row of seats, before he put a hand on the dreaded hair-boy's shoulder. 

"I have some questions, I want to ask you."

Chase said with a serious tone. 

Equan flinched from the contact, and slowly turned- giving him a nervous nod. 

The two of them proceeded up the bleachers and took seats directly in front of Gemini and Michael. 

As they sat down, Chase's gaze was distant, as looked down upon the combat based classroom. 

"Do you know a Kade?" 

He asked the boy not bothering to look at the young boy. 

"Kade?" 

Equan responded in a confused tone. 

"Of The House of Lightning. I grew up with him, I was wondering if you knew him..."

He paused, before interrupting the boy, before he could answer. 

"I want to know if he's alive."

Equan looked down at the multiple arenas. His expression just as distant as Chase's

"He was killed in the town of Willowmere more then a year ago... Sorry, that's all I know."

Chase remained silent for a moment, then nodded. 

"That's all I wanted to know, you can go now."

Before Equan could stand up, Gemini interrupted in a kind tone. 

"You can sit with us if you want, don't mind my brooding friend."

The young boy, looked at Chase as if awaiting his permission. He looked at the boy, and just shrugged. 

"I don't care."

He said, still looking down at the training room. 

Just then, a man walked through one of the many entrances of the classroom. 

He had short-brown hair, and calm green eyes. His expression was hardened, and his mouth was curled into a frown. 

The combat teacher, almost looked familiar to Chase, as if they had met before. 

Something immediately clicked, as his mouth opened from the realization.

'Vivian, that's gotta be her dad.'

Sure enough, the man had the same calculating look that she had when they had played each other in chess. 

He began to speak, in a proud, yet calm voice. 

"I am Barren, the eldest son of the House of Insignia. I will be your combat teacher, for your entire time here at this academy."

The professor of House Insignia stood tall in front of the bleachers, as he extended his arms showcasing the many shelves of weaponry that surrounded the room.

"Your first assignment, is to pick a weapon- any weapon, and then form a circle in the center of the main duel platform."

He grinned.

"Ah, but do not worry, all of the weapons are dulled... Hopefully."

Chase turned his head, to see that Gemini had an unassured expression, while Michael looked quite excited for the possibility of a duel on the first day. 

Meanwhile, Chase did not know how to feel. Sure, he killed a Naga with a stone sword, but he did not know how if he was being entirely honest. 

His footwork was sloppy, his balance was all wrong, and he had no real knowledge of wielding a sword.

They stood, and students quickly flocked to the weapon racks. 

He stood in front of one of the many sword sections, and studied the options hung out in front of him. 

Michael seemed to have already chosen a weapon- something similar to that of a scimitar but a lot longer. 

Gemini on the other hand, was debating whether to pick from a duel-sided battle axe, and a massive war-hammer, on the far side of the room. 

'Nothing here is even similar to The Hero's Fang.' 

He thought, holding two different hand and a half swords. One was too long, and primarily built for slashing, while the other was unbalanced, with way too much focus on the piercing aspect of fighting. 

Hero's Fang, must have been an uncommon build for a sword, since when Gemini, and Chase forged it, they built it for balanced combat, including aspects of most fighting styles. 

The tide-blue sword was still in its developing stage as a lumen, and sitting on the edge of his bed in his dorm, so it wasn't like he could just summon it either.

With a sigh, he turned and asked the dark-skinned boy from the house of his long long lost friend. 

"Any thou- Where is your weapon?"

Chase was confused as to why Equan was just standing behind him, and didn't even bother to look at any the weapons. 

"I'm an archer."

He answered quietly. 

"Ah, but shouldn't you still pick a weapon? just for training, ya know?"

Chase asked with a confused look. 

Equan shrugged.

"I'm not good at close range, and have always been a liability."

He just stared at the younger boy, dumbfounded. 

"Isn't that the point of training, to get better at the things your not good at?"

Chase raised an eyebrow, as he picked up a longer sword, that seemed to be hidden behind a handful of others. 

He balanced the sword, and gave it a practice swing. It wasn't terrible, and seemed to be quite well-made. 

"Here."

Chase flipped the sword, catching it gently by the tip of the double sided blade, and holding it out, offering the handle to the boy.

"I'd recommend this, or a dagger."

Equan hesitated before taking the sword, his lightning-blue eyes flipping between the blade and to Chase. 

After a short amount of time, he took the blade and nodded. 

Once he decided on one of the simplest swords that he could find, both him, and the "Prodigy of Lightning" made their way to the group of students that stood in a circle at the center of the vast room. 

"Alright, now I will choose randomly between the lot of you, and you will participate in mock duels, against each other."

Professor Barren said, with a curious look in his eyes, as he marked off names on a small scroll of paper. 

"Danas, Mo- septum."

He said, in a low voice, as the paper began to glow in a faint dark-blue color. 

"Poppy, of House- Do you go by mother, or your father's house?"

He said, as he looked up from the scroll, and at the Ivory princess with an unreadable expression. 

"Step father's."

She said, with a very obviously forced smile. 

"Alright, our first match will be between Poppy of House Aries... Versus, Chase of no house..."

Multiple snickers escaped the mouths of her friends, that stood behind her; however, The Ivory Princess just nodded and walked over to the other side of the training platform- readying her longsword casually. 

'This is going to be interesting. Granted, I've been curious about one thing for the last two weeks...'

He said, as he steadied his breath with his back turned to the other students. 

Stepping onto his side of the arena, as the other students took seats on the bleachers- he spotted Gemini, Michael, and Equan looking down nervously from the top row. 

With an unsure look in his dark-green eyes, Professor Barren raised one hand and cleared his throat.

"Start!"

His voice echoed throughout the room.

Chase readied his sword in front of his body, and immediately the corner of his mouth curled into a slight frown...