Chapter 12 - Strange place

Adrian stepped outside the class, his thoughts were swirling around as he tried to make sense of what he saw, that's when the watch on his hands vibrated.

"Oh, the combat class would begin soon, better head there immediately." Adrian followed the map once again, it seemed like the class was on the second floor, it didn't take long to find.

He looked at the large double wooden doors, other cadets were also shuffling into the place with an excited look on their faces. Adrian entered the class, his eyes falling on a large spacious room with a wooden floorboard, on the walls were weapons aligned neatly, Adrian could see swords, axes, sheilds, spears, daggers, arrows.. And many other weapons that he didn't recognize.

Alot of human shaped dummy's was also arranged at the center of the class, 'maybe that's for target practice,' Adrian thought. He made his way towards one of the seat closer to the wall and sat down, waiting for the class to begin.

His mind wandered to what he saw in the chasm, it was a carvenous space filled with swirling mass of darkness, and at the center of it all was a cage contained a pulsing orb, it had two sides as one side was a dim golden colour and the other a blood-red hue glowing with an intense mesmerizing light, chains with strange letters around them bound the cage.

The chains stretched into the swirling mass of darkness, he noticed that the aether was slowly revolving around the chains, that's when the feeling of dread took ahold of his body.

'What the hell was that?.. Maybe it's the reason I can't awaken my ability, I could feel it.. The light was calling out to me... Hmm, it looked like the aether was slowly removing the chains, the question now was when, and the amount of aether needed to break the chains...'-

-"Huh? Where's the instructor?" a cadets voice rang through the place, attracting Adrian gaze.

He also noticed that the instructor wasn't here, Adrian didn't send much heed to it as he silently waited for the class to begin. A few minutes later-

"HAHAHAHA, THESE CHICKENS DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE ME, HAHAHA!" a loud booming voice that carried a tone of power rang out.

Adrian and the other cadets immediately jerked their heads upwards, looking at a figure floating high above the class, he wore the same silver uniform as the other instructors, his bald head reflected the lights around the place, a large scar ran across the left side of his cheeks, a small grin spread across his face as he slowly descended.

When he finally descended, Adrian gazed at his imposing figure, he was sure the instructor was at least, seven feet tall, his burly physique could be seen clearly as uniform strained to contain the powerful muscles beneath.

"Welcome to the combat class, you can address me as instructor Odin, and I'll call you chickens, hahaha.. Want to know why I'll be calling you that? It's because you lot are weak!" instructor Odie stated with a mocking tone.

The cadets looked at him with a confused expression."Pick a training partner!" his voice rang out as he pointed towards the training dummies.

The cadets jerked their bodies as they walked towards the dummies, Adrian stood in front of a dummy that had the same height as him, looking at it closely, it's colour was a shade of brown, he could see blue colored patterns running across the chest area, it had a plain face except for the creepy smile drawn on its face.

"Let's start with a light spar, you're not allowed to use your ability, stay alert and get ready for whatever the puppet is going to throw at you, the objective is simple... Don't lose." instructor Odie stated.

Immediately he finished talking, the puppets moved, taking a battle stance by lowering their knees and putting one hand in front of the other, the cadets were startled at the sudden movement, but quickly regained their bearings.

Adrian took a step back as he watched the puppets movement, he raises his hands slightly, the puppet moved, delivering a punch aimed at his abdomen, Adrian reacted quickly by using his hand to block it, he successfully blocked the attack, but damn it still hurt as hell, the puppet used its other hand, aiming at his face, 'duck!' Adrian screamed out in his mind as he quickly bent his head, dodging the blow, he immediately followed up with a punch to the puppets open abdomen.

THUD!

'What the fuck!!' Adrian felt like he just hit a wall, a stinging pain shot through his fist, the shock caused him to lose focus, the puppet swiftly used it's knee to strike Adrian's abdomen, lifting him up a little bit, before Adrian could touch down again, the puppet swirled around, delivering a heel kick towards his abdomen, throwing him across the room.

A harsh hacking cough escaped Adrian's lips, he took in deep breaths, he grabbed his abdomen, feeling the throbbing pain ravaging his insides, he was trying his best to hold back his breakfast.

"Stay down for more than ten seconds and you lose!" instructor Odie's voice pierced the cadets ears, Adrian gathered his strength and slowly stood up, a large smirk appearing on his face as he approached the puppet, 'This is exactly what I need!' Adrian exclaimed in his mind.

Nearing the puppet, Adrian threw a punch, aiming for its head, the puppet blocked and followed up with an uppercut, jerking his head to the side Adrian dodged the attack, he moved his leg, aiming at the puppets abdomen.

But the puppet raised its left leg, blocking the attack, Adrian didn't stop at that and headbutted the puppets head.

He could feel his head rattle as his vision blurred a little, but that didn't stop him from following up with a strike, he clasped his hands together and brought it down on the puppets chest.

THUD!

Adrian's attack connected and he immediately retreated, taking several steps back, the puppets body that was leaning backwards straightened up, looking at Adrian with that annoying smile on its face.

'I'll just catch my breath and continu-what the-' Adrian raised his hand to block the incoming attack, but he was too late and the kick connected, hitting the side of his face.

Adrian had miscalculated, he thought he would have enough time to react if the puppet decided to attack, but he had made the mistake of underestimating the puppet.

Adrian's body slowly swayed to the side, he tried to maintain his balance after the hit, but he couldn't find his center of balance as the hit close to his ears had affected his vestibular system, his body hit the floor with a low thud.

His blurry gaze fell on the puppet, the bastard was using its fingers to count the ten seconds, the smile on its face just made Adrian want to rip off its head.

'Come on, don't give up on me now, it's not even using aether.. Stand! Up!' Adrian slowly put his shaking arms on the floor, his muscles tensed up as pushed himself off the floor, beads of sweat slowly falling of his face.

The smirk on his face never wavered, instead it got wider as he stood on his feet, looking at the puppets fingers, he could see that it had seven fingers up, the puppet took its stance again.