Learning The Ropes

Chase walked along the creaky wooden bridge, that brought both him and Michael of House Everfrost to the other side of the final mountain that marked The Phoenix Academy.

It had been exactly one day since his fateful encounter with Leander, and now as his classes had ended for the day, the two crossed the vast expanse of the academy grounds, and proceeded toward a grand coliseum that sat atop the final mountain.

"So, basically there is this magical ball made of a mix of leather and carbonite- that floats in the air and sometimes attacks the players..."

Michael stated with a straight face.

"I'm sorry... Magical ball that attacks you?"

Chase said with an eyebrow raised, a confused expression making its way onto his face.

Michael shrugged.

"Sounds dumb, but it's true!"

He exclaimed, taking a bite out of what Chase had assumed was the boy's pre-practice meal. 

It looked to be some sort of meat, that had been cooked on a really long stick.

'That looks really undercooked...'

Chase thought to himself, still angered by the fact that he had to play a sport he knew nothing about.

"How do I play it?"

He asked the boy.

Michael shrugged in response, and took another bite out of his undercooked lunch. 

"Well, it starts with the ball in the middle, and then it usually flies in a random direction, and the goal is for one of the attackers or vanguard members to gain possession of the aetherball."

He said, taking another bite. 

"Then, the fun part starts... The team with possession passes the ball, or takes it up field and has to throw it into the goal, which is a small cave that sits on each side of the field. Plus, it's defended by a goalie that is allowed to use Primis abilities."

Chase tilted his head, as he stepped off of the wooden bridge, and onto the textured pathway that lead directly to the coliseum. 

"So, there are nine players on the field, and around six or so on the bench?"

The confused boy asked, making sure he had heard the boy right when he had mentioned the sport earlier in the day.

Michael nodded.

"Yes, three attackers, two vanguards, three defenders, and a goalie."

He confirmed, throwing his greasy stick over the edge of the mountain. 

"The defenders are also not allowed to enter the inside of the cave where the goal sits, making it the goalies only job to grant perfect protection of that teams goal."

He paused, letting out a loud yawn.

"But, it is also the most important job on the field, other then scoring of course."

He chuckled. 

Chase looked up to see the grand coliseum towering above him now. The sight was truly awe inspiring, as he stopped in his tracks to gaze upon the ancient structure.

"What else?"

He asked, as Michael turned around with a grin on his face.

"Fighting is allowed, but no Primis abilities excluding the goalie of course."

He took a deep breath, his smile growing wider.

"Oh, but I haven't mentioned my favorite part just yet... When the crowd gets louder the enchantments on our uniforms grow stronger, granting the player's boosts to their Axis abilities, as well as some other physical attributes."

Chase just let out a quiet sigh, and continued to admire the towering structure.

'Not like anyone will be cheering for me, so that doesn't matter much in my case.'

He thought somberly.

"Alright, come on!"

Michael called out, walking underneath the grand entrance, surrounded by marble arches, that were engraved with orange symbols of the Phoenix.

Walking into the arena, the first thing he seen was a huge hallway, where several stalls, and doorways lined the stone walls. 

The place looked enormous, as there must have been at least ten or so levels stacked on top of each other. 

"By the names of the true gods..."

Chase said, nearly losing his breath, as he looked around him.

Michael laughed.

"Come on, let's head to the locker room."

Chase raised an eyebrow.

"What's a locker room?"

The child of Everfrost gave him a blank expression for a few moments, and then palmed his own face.

"Never mind that, just follow me."

They eventually walked into a small corridor at the far end of the western branch of the coliseum. 

Before they entered; however, Chase took one last look at the grand hall. Torches lined the lower sections of the walls, but on the other side of the highest part of them, were hundreds of barred off areas, where the natural lightning of the Pyrothar leaked into the long hallway. 

Chase had assumed that on the other side, was the field that he would later play this so called Aetherball on.

After taking a second to take it all in, he stepped into the cramped corridor, which led them to a decently big room, filled with wooden benched, as well as several metal lockers.

White jerseys, covered in mud- were hung from small hooks that sat above each and every one of the lockers.

Several kids around Chase's age were sitting quietly on a couple of the benches, wearing some of the missing white jerseys. 

They had white padded helmets on that exposed only their faces, and shorts that only went down to their upper thighs, but had some sort of compression pants underneath it.

Chase leaned over and whispered to Michael.

"I thought our colors were orange and black?"

The boy just grinned.

"These aren't our jerseys, just expendable ones we wear for practices."

He said quietly, as he started toward his own locker, with the number fifteen marked onto the surface of it. 

"Stray, over here!"

An older voice called out from behind, causing Chase to roll his eyes before he turned to meet the voice.

A man with a large black beard, and exhausted eyes, was leaning against the wall, while looking at the boy. 

He was wearing some oversized clothing, that was branded with The Phoenix Academy logo.

"I'm Sir Gerald, I'm the head coach of this sorry ass team."

He said, scratching his nose with his giant hand. The man was very tall, and had very rough facial features.

Chase raised an eyebrow, and gave him a short nod.

"Chase... of no house sir."

He responded with a long, and slow nod. 

"I know, Leander told me all of the information that I needed already. Your locker is the one next to the Everfrost boy's. Go get changed."

He said in an annoyed voice.

'I guess it makes sense why he is so ticked off... They did lose to both their rival, and the best team on the continent in the last week. As well as lost their star player...'

He thought, as he swiftly made his way over to his locker.

Two digits were engraved poorly on the front of the locker, at first it was hard to make out what the number was, until studying it for a minute or two.

The marking read: Twenty-four...