Chapter 1 – A late start
Seth Ranlais awoke to the clangor of the great bell with a start and fell off his bed with a thud. As the low notes of the brass tongue hitting the side of the bell reached his ears, he felt that there was something wrong. He subconsciously counted the rings in his head and when the final note sounded it hit Seth like a storm.
“I’m late for the exam!” he shouted. Seth rose to his feet and quickly rushed over to his trunk, avoiding lots of clutter as he did so. He would have to clean his small room soon. The walls of the room were stone and had been quickly painted white in the rush to get this building finished, and the rough result showed. Every senior novice in the academy was accommodated in one of these small rooms. Seth hurriedly rummaged through his chest in his search for fresh clothes. He managed to get a clean black shirt and pair of trousers and dark blue tunic with yellow fringes that were the uniform of a senior novice. It was as if the clothes sensed his haste and decided to foil him whenever possible because it seemed to take him much longer and more effort to put them on. After his battle with his clothes, he put his boots on and fastened them, then moved over to a basin and gave his face a quick clean to get the grit out from his eyes. Seth estimated that he had taken ten minutes and grabbed his sheathed training sword from where it was propped up against the wall, and then ran out of his door slamming it shut behind him.
Seth was now in a white corridor with doors like his own at regular intervals at each side. There were twelve in all and Seth hurtled past every single one, and then opened the door at the end. Now he was in a small landing, the walls painted white like the rest of the building. He pounded down the spiraling staircase and jumped the last few steps into the lobby.
“You’re late, novice,” said the journeyman on watch duty as Seth went streaming past his plain desk. Seth bit back an angry retort as he smashed open the entrance door. He was already tired, having had nothing to eat and he dreaded what was to come next. He raced down the path and took a left turn. Soon he had left behind the academy buildings and was in sight of the training grounds, where people sharpened their weapon skills and casting proficiency. The trees were more plentiful here and the grass and plants looked wilder, not having been cut like the grass and plants near the academy buildings. There was even some wildlife here, being near to the woods. As Seth reached the training grounds his worst fears came to be realized. The combat skills exam had already begun.
There were already people locked in fake combats with their most proficient weapon. They swirled as if dancing and periodically a ring sounded as weapons clashed. Seth approached with a fluttering stomach, wondering whether he would be automatically failed. However, he would be better of failing without a chance than fighting on an empty stomach, failing, and having bruises to boot. The edges of training weapons were blunt, but they still hurt.
“You’re late Seth!” boomed Master Denc, the combat skills teacher. He was a merry dark haired giant with huge muscles that looked as if they could crush skulls like rotten fruit. The three flowing, dark blue stripes across each of his cheeks broadcasted his rank to those who knew of magiacs and their ways. There were some novices who had finished near him, the victors were the ones still standing up strait, the losers were the ones on the floor or wincing in pain.
“Sorry sir, I overslept,” muttered Seth.
“Have you eaten Seth?” asked Master Denc.
“No,” Seth replied. He felt something ominous coming.
“Well, you can fight Kasper here, who has luckily already finished, so you can start strait away! I’ll be watching you closely.” Seth’s gaze followed Master Denc’s considerable hand to a brown haired and red eyed boy. He was handsome with high cheekbones, and he gave a look to Seth that told him to expect no mercy. A long spear was propped against a fence next to him. Seth said the rudest word he could think of in his mind.
Master Denc had known perfectly what he had been doing. Not that he would have stood a chance of he had eaten but on an empty stomach he would be annihilated. It was a punishment, not a lesson seeing as this was the last time he would ever teach these novices. In his mind, Seth wished the man a gruesome death. Kasper Veane was lonesome, arrogant and cold, but he was a hell of a good fighter. Seth’s track record against him was filled with humiliating losses, once he’d had to go to the healing ward with a broken arm. He had also overheard some magiacs saying that he had some sort of ability. Whatever it was, it just made it easier for him to hurt people.
“What’s wrong Seth? You’re not scared are you?” said Kasper snidely. Seth knew that he should refuse to fight and fail but his pride didn’t allow him to do so.
“I’ll take you on,” he replied back more confidently than he felt.
“Let’s go then,” said Kasper, and opened a gate to a small fenced ring. As Seth approached Kasper pushed him in and said,
“Ladies first.” Seth faced him angrily but Kasper just coolly said,
“What?” All of Seth’s aggression faded against Kasper’s calm demeanour. He walked to one side of the ring and Kasper to the other.
“Salute,” said Master Denc, and Seth and Kasper did so, but only because they had to.
“Ready.” They readied their swords and body.
“Begin.”
one of my favourite names.
The ‘over’ is also not needed either, and I would personally remove it.
