Two weeks after their successful attack the group filed into their room for their next lesson. Vareth was already behind his desk at the front and the students sat down almost cautiously. The class had never had a full lesson in the class room other than the very first lesson they had. Vareth had a huge map pinned on the board, when everyone had arrived he began. “Now some students in the past have wondered why they are fighting, why the Academy is even training them. I wish to shed some light on the topic today.” Vareth pulled out a pencil and pointed at the map. The map showed a massive block of land, surrounded by ocean and smaller islands. The continent was an unusual shape, a small section of the very left of it was almost sectioned off, but a small, bridge like piece of land connected the two landscapes together. Before Blaze could look any closer Vareth continued. “This is a map of our continent, Zervoni. The land’s main features are the Lion’s Teeth, gigantic mountains that spear out of the ground and are said to reach the sky itself. Dwarves have been seen in those mountains, the dwarves actually created our King’s castle for him, for a price of gold. Far to the right of the main piece of the continent is a large forest, which holds a large tree called The Ancient, said to have a trunk as thick and as tall as a mountain. Elves are rumoured to dwell near that fantastic monument. Some magician philosopher’s have theories that magic actually was created by The Ancient and that the closer you get the stronger your power. And finally the last race, verified by the King himself. At the top lies the great water fall. A mystical place, full of magic and beauty. Some philosophers believe that this place was the source of magic, but this is the home of the dragons.” Vareth paused then circled the sectioned off bit of land, “This was Coren’s side of the continent. But recently his forces have begun to spread and conquer further into the kings territory.” He drew a few lines expanding from the small bridge. “His forces are crossing the Dragon’s Hold, the small bridge you may be able to see, and are pushing the King’s borders further back. Now that you have the geography, you will now learn the history. I once taught Coren himself, but there were also two other magicians in our class to note, Lucy and Harry. Harry had the unusual power to convert powers to different people, then convert them back. Lucy had a power almost similar to Blaze’s mother. A magic that could change its use, it could burn, pierce, grab, she was a very powerful and humble student. The only difference was that her magic was blue. But Lucy fell in love with Coren, and I didn’t notice at the time, but Coren took advantage of this. He told Harry to convert Lucy’s power to him, Lucy reluctantly agreed but when Harry was transferring Lucy finally stood up for herself. She broke free and broke the conversion, killing Harry but leaving Coren with most of Lucy’s power. This tied them together, as long as Lucy remains alive Coren has all the power he needs. The next day Coren and Lucy were charged with murder, both having known that Harry was vulnerable during the spell process. Coren attacked the Academy’s council, me and the other members. There was also something else to note, the power in Coren’s hand was a dark red, maybe even black, anyway... We could not kill him and and he was dangerous...” Vareth sighed sadly, “So we attacked Lucy... Still she and Coren lived and fled the Academy. Lucy didn’t deserve it, and now, at this current day, Coren has two powers at his disposal.”“Sir why don’t we use elves? Or dwarves?” Asked Mary. “The other races refuse to join in the chaos we created. I don’t blame them.” Replied Vareth. “We are on our own in this fight.”

 Blaze arrived early to the class after waking up early and being unable to fall back asleep. So he waited until he heard the door being pushed open. Lark entered Delila and Baren not far behind him. Mary and Vareth soon arrived and the lesson began. “Okay class, today we will be resuming our duel lessons. As you saw as you attacked the village, it is very likely that you will come across other magician’s. Coren actually has an Academy much like our’s, but harsher. I also realised that even though Blaze has no powers he should also participate as he has somehow taught himself a form of martial arts that actually most of the elves use. Although they are usually better at it,” he said smiling to show it was a joke. Blaze rose with determination and they walked towards the arena. It wasn’t much, just a rectangle room with stands on one side to allow other students, and the teacher, to watch. The rest of it was just a flat room, with space to duel. “First fight of the day, Blaze aaannnnd.... let’s have Lark.” Blaze stepped into the arena, Lark directly opposite him. Blaze raised his hands, thinking over the rules. One, do not aim for the head, two stop instantly when the teacher says so... “Ready?” His thoughts were cut short as Vareth’s call echoed inside the room. “Go!” And Lark was off, running towards him. Blaze thought of his tactic, he would have to disable Lark with a move that hurt him to resist, any that relied on strength to hold him would be invalid. He would have to do it quick, he could not risk any hits from Lark, but Blaze had no more time to think. Lark threw a punch as he charged, Blaze stepped to the side Lark stumbled but regained his balance and turned around with a vicious smile. Blaze feinted a punch to his left and instead thrust out his leg to trip Lark. It only worked halfway, Lark was thrown off balance but was still standing. Blaze advanced forward, throwing a punch into his shoulder, and as quick as a flash, a second one into Lark’s stomach. Lark doubled over and Vareth called out. “Finished! Lark up here, next challenger for Blaze’s throne?” Lark looked over to Blaze, an odd mixture of anger and surprise. “I’ll go!” Called Baren and He teleported down to his ready position. “Ready?.... Go!” 

Blaze instantly jumped back and sure enough, Baren had already teleported throwing a fist at where he used to be. Blaze grabbed Baren’s arm and twisted it around his back, into a arm lock, but his hands suddenly gripped nothing and Baren was behind him. Blaze cursed, he should have thought of that. He felt wild punch being thrown into his back, it didn’t have proper practised strength behind it but it still hurt. Blaze twisted around but Baren was no longer there, Blaze thought quickly. He lowered his stance, moving into a highly defensible position. There was no room to attack but it was almost impossible to hit through. You could move freely and had every chance to block any incoming hits. Vareth looked down at Blaze, studying the choice of the move. Baren smiled, he disappeared but Blaze moved around in a flash. He was already facing the place where Baren had telported, and was still in his defence. Baren began to teleport, trying to get behind Blaze, but finally, after half of a frustrating minute Baren came to a gasping stop. Blaze stood up straight. He walked over and tapped his fist softly against Baren’s head. “Out!” Called Vareth. “Me next!” Cried Delila, but Vareth stopped her. “You will get to go first next time. For now, it’s time to get some rest. More duels tomorrow!” Delila let out a sigh, Baren shook his hand and they all exited the room. Lark moved straight over to him. Blaze found no way out, so he softly made adjustments to allow a quick attack ready. “Okay, I have to say something.” Lark said as he reached him, “I was a jerk, I thought I was the best and knowing that you were better than me made me angry. But there is more, I thought that you had lost the war for us. The level one hundred unable to even unlock his power. But after seeing you go toe to toe with someone with powers, I realised even though you don’t have your power yet, you actually have determination inside you, and you are humble, like I should have been. I just wanted to say sorry,” Blaze grabbed Lark’s hand and shook it, “Apology accepted, just don’t beat me up anymore, okay?” Lark laughed and shook Blaze’s hand. “Alright, I’ll try not to.”