Acheron Military Magic Acdemy: chapter 1, Hell Week

[Squishy Cheeks]

The uniformed older students stood in solid shoulder to shoulder ranks, organized by year, and squad. They stood at attention as the Freshmen class was led by honor guard into the parade ground. The freshmen class tried to follow the example of the older classes, but only managed to be at semiattention.

A decorated officer took the balcony of a marble and brick building. The architecture was decorated with heroic freizes. The Brick and marble Arcade extended around the Stone coverd square of the parade grounds. On either side A large brick and marble building stood. on the south side stood the large iron gates and the gate house. beyond the gate was a garden lined path to the main gate of the fortress. The garden was filled with statues of war heroes, all graduates of this academy.

The General scanned the ranks.

"Welcome Acheron's Finest," The general said in a loud booming voice. "Another year has come, we are encouraged by our successes of last year. I do not need to remind you of the greatness our graduates have achieved. This last year saw the end of the northern border conflict with the Rivan barbarians. I am to understand there are some veterans of that conflict in our freshmen class. To those I say, you have served your country well, but here much will still be expected of you. That goes for you all. We expect nothing less than perfection in every way. You will stand tall and proud, for you represent all that is strong about our country. Show compassion to those weaker than you, but do not coddle them for that will only make them weaker. You are a beacon, a light on all that is good and right. Many fear our power, they are right to do so. We weild power beyond most peoples ability to comprehend. Because of this much is expected of us. Wolves are at our borders, there are those who would undermine our authority from within. We are the sword and shield of this nation. If you graduate from this academy you will be one of the finest mages this world has ever seen. Remember to be courteous however, for courtesy and ettiquette are the glue that holds society together. Be honest, and sincere in all your words, and actions. You will not lie, or tolerate those who do. You are to be dutiful, you will follow any instruction given to you by a superior, or face the punishment for defiance. You will be loyal to your comrades, never leave a man behind. You will be loyal to the academy. You will not cheat, or tolerate those who do. You will be honorable in all actions. Give praise to those who do good work, and shame to those who don't. You will not steal, or tolerate those who do."

The ball of energy disapated.

"These are simple codes of honor that I expect you all to live by, Dismissed."

The ranks stepped in unison, creating a thunderous sound. Twelve Student Sergeants stepped forward from the marble steps at the front of the main office building.

"Squads!" They bellowed in unison. "Form Ranks!" the older students seperated into the three squads of each grade level. There were variations in the size of the squads, the senior level squads being the smallest, Hector figured this was on account of drop outs, wash outs, and the twelve student sergeants. Hector nudged the boy to the left of him to push him into his position in the formation. The sergeant of his squad walked up to hector.

"What's your name private?" the sergeant said in a menacing tone.

"Private Greenleaf, sir." Hector replied still standing at attention as he was taught long ago, he kept his eyes straight ahead, and didn't look at his sergeant.

"Why did you push that cadet?"

"He was out of position, sir."

"So you think you know where his position should be?"

"I've served in Drakon Companies courier squad, sir."

"Have you now?" He said in a menacing tone.

"Sir." Hector responded.

"Saw some action in the north?"

"Sir, yes sir." Hector said.

"Then you should know that your uniform should be in better order than that."

"Sir, yes sir." Hector said. "I was unable to locate a belt in a resonable time frame, sir."

"Next time, make sure you are the paragon of soldiery you should be, before you dare correct someone else."

He turned to address the whole squad. "I am Sergeant Dura, I'm going to be your worst nightmare. You will do as I command, without question. You will jump when I tell you to jump, you will crawl when I tell you to crawl. You will speak when I tell you to speak. You are now all memebers of Bravo squad. Soon you will be given your duffel bag, your uniforms, given a free haircut, and this months supply kit. After that you will be assigned to your dormotory and have time to get to know one another. On my mark you will form an orderly line and head through those doors" He pointed to open doors on the right, Alpha squad was going through it at the time.

"Squad! Form Line!" the squad did as instructed.

"Squad! Forward March!" The squad marched through the doors and as they did each was thrown an empty brown canvas sack. They waited in line at the next set of doors. The doors opened reaveling a white tiled floor and rows of wooden chairs. lines of men in long white coats were sharpening straight razors. the students were then instructed to sit, as the barbers proceeded to shave their heads down to the scalp. The sergeant making note of those who seemed to be bothered by this. once finished, hector smiled as Charlie company entered, knowing what they would be getting. The Students working the quarter master station instructed the students in proper maintence techniques of their uniform. Their brass was all to be polished, their shirts free of wrinkles, how to maintain the proper crease in their trousers. How to keep the right shine on their shoes. Each student was then measured and issued a dress uniforms.

Each was given a coat in ‘Navy Blue’, in the Hussar style, with a dolman and pelisse (a coat worn clasped to the shoulder), braided in black, and brass buttons, pocketless and fitted as tight as a glove. the pelisse with brown fur trim. The coats were marked a shield with an emblem of the sun rising on it, the symbol of the academy. They were also given wore a plain crimson sash. All equipment was in matching black leather including waist belt with 'S'-clasp. The black leather shoulder belt had a silver whistle. The great cloaks were white. They were also issued a Tricorn hat, Each was made of blocked felt, with a linen liner, leather sweatband and leather peak. The caps were to be made of sufficient size to come completely on the head. To be worn straight and even and brought well forward over the eyes. Overalls were blue with tan leather reinforcing. They were given white cloth pantaloons, also tight fitting. the shoes were straight lasted and black.

"This is your dress uniform, and you will wear it to all events, parades, free days in town, and all formal events."

Hector found it hard to move and breathe in the heavy, ill fitting coat.

He was then ordered down the line where he gave the next group of quartermasters his previous measurements and they gave him a more casual version of the uniform consisting of a few light blue linen shirts, marked with the insignia of the school on the right shoulder, a few white cloth trousers with blue silk piping down the seam, a black leather belt. He was intructed to also wear his crimson sash with this uniform, and his boots.

"This is your school uniform, you will attend all classes in this uniform."

He moved down to the next station which handed him three pairs of plain grey cloth trousers and three plain grey tunics.

"This is your uniform for when you are doing athletics. If you are not in the appropriate uniform at the appropriate time you will be punished."

The next station handed them various things they would need. Text books, a pen box, containing a quill and a vial of ink. All students were handed a reem of parchment. A box of matches, a box of long white candles and a candle jack, a tooth brush, a few sticks of chalk, a knife with black leather sheath and belt loop, several bars of lye based soap, two white towels, two linen sheets, one linen pillow case, one wool blanket, and one down pillow. Lastly each was handed a canteen.

Hector stuffed all of this into his duffel bag as organized as he could.

"Squad form line!" Sergeant Dura instructed. "Turn Right! Forward March!" The squad marched into the arcade. "Left Turn!" They turned out through another iron gate toward two brick buildinga populated with small windows.

"These are your dormatories. Women's dormatory are to the right, men's dormatory are to the left. We do not tolerate cohabitation, so to you men the women's dormatory is out of bounds and if caught entering you will be properly punished, that goes for you ladies."

Two older soldiers bearing the rank of sergeant stepped forward, one a brown haired man in his middle age, the other a red headed girl in her mid twenties.

"Sergeant Masters, and Sergeant Gillete will be your Resident Assistants and you are under their command while in your dormatory."

"I am Sergeant Gillete." the man said. "Follow me men and I'll give you your room assignmetns."

I am sergeant Masters." the woman said "Follow me ladies and I'll give you your room assignment."

Hector followed and entered the common area of the dorm. It was large and lined with book shelves. There were already students at work at the tables. Some seemed to be playing a game of cards in the corner.

Sergeant Gillete read down a list of four boys and then gave them each a room number, 401, 402, 403...

"Privatte Greenleaf, Private Vagria, Private carver and Private Nerezza, You have room 404

_______________

...Private Calabria, Privatte Valeria, and Privatte Ceresti, you have room 506

[Armored Bishoujo]

While not spot on, Pauline Valeria's private instructor had prepared her well for this day, and she could only hope that he had prepared her well for the rest of her training here. After all, she couldn't go back and ask about this or that now. The room didn't have a lot of space, but she didn't have a lot of stuff. No need for makeup or dresses or carpets or maids. This was a military academy, and she wasn't going to see that kind of pampering for a long time.
She worked quickly, setting up the nearby locker for her uniforms first so they didn't get wrinkled. Then she worked on everything else. She could pick her bunk later after the other two girls had called their dibs. One bunk wasn't all that much better or worse than another, right? While organizing everything, she thought about what was to come. Introductions with the other girls in the room with her would probably have to wait until late tonight since it was likely their superiors would have much more for them to complete soon enough.

[Mesden]

"Valeria?" asked a soft toned young girl, peaking over to her right at the new peer, Pauline. Adina too had the same idea; getting your things in order and ready, then get to the pleasantries.

She packed up all but her own personal little bag, the one she had carried through the entire entrance process and somewhat struggled with when being handed her things, and with an odd look of accomplishment of something so trivial, she smiled at her new roomate.

[Armored Bishoujo]

"Yes, that's me," Pauline smiled kindly. "Miss...Ceresti, correct? It's a pleasure to meet you."
Pauline then reached to touch her hair, or lack thereof. "Though I wish it was under better circumstances."

[Mesden]

"Yep!" she responded in lieu of her name, "Heh...I know what you mean." Adrina touched what little nub of hair she had left held up by the green ribbon. The little lock in her hand and ribbon seemed important to her.

"I'll miss my hair." she giggled, saying it as a bad thing, but passing it off lightly.

[Armored Bishoujo]

"Well, if they're lenient on future haircuts, I guess we'll have some of it back in just two weeks."
Pauline checked herself in the mirror. At least they didn't do a crappy job of shaving her bald. Yeah, it was bad, but she could definitely live with it. Besides, from what her instructor taught her, once the exercises and the classes started, she wouldn't even notice how somewhat ridiculous she looked.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Hector smirked. uniformity in all things He opened the door marked 404 and immediately went to work putting the sheets pillow and blanket in the military precision he was trained in. He stowed his uniforms in his foot locker and quickly checked the itenerary he was handed. he calculated a rough estimate of the time, and figured it was about 40 minutes from luncheon. He pulled the fist sized geode out of his duffel and placed it on the window cill. The stone sang pleasently as it was warmed by the sun. He looked at his room mates as they began to slowly filter in.

"Hello" he said.

[Wolf99x]

Well, started out good but it can probably only go downhill from here Edward thought as he was led towards his room. Though he had pulled off not looking like an ass at the orientation, he knew it was probably a matter of time before he screwed up...

No, quit thinking that way, you got in, that's the hard part...i think. Point is, I'm here and I'm here to stay

He heard one of the privates, the one named Greeenleaf, say "hello"

he turned and let out a hopefully nonthreatening grin. "Hello," he extended his hand. "Private Edward Nerezza"

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Private Hector Greenleaf, former Drakon Company, Whisper Squad. first time in service?"

[Wolf99x]

He nodded "Wasn't exactly something I thought about until the offer was extended to me by recruiters"

[Squishy Cheeks]

"you get used to it." Hector took off the dress uniform and began to carefully fold it so as to not put wrinkles in it. "Don't mind me while I change." He took out one of the school uniforms and put that on. "There much better, now i can breathe." he rubbed his neck where the collar pressed into it.

[Wolf99x]

Edward offered Hector personal courtesy by turning away while taking the time to change himself as well. After making sure the uniform looked as good as possible on him, he gave his cuffs one last adjustment.

Looking good, looking good. he said to himself.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Hector played with his tricorn hat flipping it and catching it. "Hey think fast!" he said throwing the hat towards Edward catching him in the face with the base as he turned. Hector bowed and cught the hat by the brim. "Object of the game is to keep it off the ground." He slid the hat on point forward. "i love these hats, they really keep your head dry in the rain."

"I don't think I caught your name yet?" he said to one of his other roommates who had been rather quiet.

[Whightwolf]

“Hmm? Oh right, Marcus.” Running his hand over his new shaven head, Marcus seemed to only just have become aware of the rest of the students. With his hair shaved like this he looked just like Tanis, Commander of his fathers Infantry and a defiantly lower class man. He had been a little afraid of the great bald bear of a man, with his eye patch and his scars. But his father had said he was the bravest man and most accomplished warrior he had ever met.

Snapping out of another of his little mental detours he stood up and faced the former courier.
“Actually lets do this right. Marcus Vagria at your service” Swishing off his hat in the best courtly bow he could muster, then flashed a grin. “But you guys can call me Marc. Any idea when we get to start training?”

[Squishy Cheeks]

"That started when we arrived. At least the subtle parts did." Hector said. "The question is how long till they give us nicknames, I doubt I'll get stuck with kid again."

A bell rang in the distance.

"Chow time." He stuck his head out of the door and waited for the appropriate time to insinuate himself into the stampede for the stairs. He shook his head, if this was anything like his other military dining experiences then, the food would be beyond diappointing and entering the realm of dreadful. Still better than weevily hard tack and coffee though. Outside of the dorms the sergeants stood in their school uniforms. The squads began to organize infront of their respective sergeant. Sergeant seemed to have the permenant scowl on his face. A girl in his squad took position next to him. The earth here sounded discordiant. There was a loud screaming sound, but it was faint to his ears, as if in the distance. It was the cry of the earth some where in the distance, possibly hundreds of miles away. He looked toward the north. Toward the montains. A volcano eruption most likely, any day now.

[dementedmongoose]

Michael didn't have time to say anything before the bell rang for lunch. As he slipped out behind the one calling himself Hector. Walking lightly behind him, Michael realized that Hector made a great battering ram, and a better shield, since Michael wouldn't be able to maneuver in this crowd without a suitable ram. When he got out to muster, Michael heard the same sound as Hector, but had no clue what was going on. Trembling slightly, he fought to maintain his position.

[Wolf99x]

Edward had followed Hector and another private out, gotten into position, and just followed the movements of the people in front of him as they headed towards the dining hall.

You are not an individual here...not yet...maybe not ever, he thought and that's probably a good thing at this point

[Jeneralissimo]

"We'd better get going, or the boys will eat all the food." Justine called out from the top bunk. She jumped down and introduced herself, "I'm Justine, by the way. Sorry I didn't say anything sooner, my mind was...elsewhere. Having short hair really isn't all that bad, you might learn to like it. And it's much more convenient for the sort of things we'll have to do." Justine opened the door to the hall and looked at the press of students headed towards the mess hall. "Well, ladies, fall in!" She said with a smile.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Is everyone present and accounted for?" Sergeant Dura asked. He did a quick tally. "Good. In a moment, You maggots will march to the cafeteria, and recieve your meal. You will eat your meal then you will proceed to parade grounds for inspection. Is there any confusion as to what you will be doing?"

The squad was silient.

"Good. SQUAD! FORWARD MARCH!"

_________________

The Cafeteria appeared to be an after thought. hidden away along one of the walls of the fortress, the cafeteria was little more than an open air picnic area covered by a roof of wood planks coming off the wall at a 30 degree angle. In fact one of the gaurds on the wall used the roof as a slide. The cafeteria line was little more than old maids tending to large kettles. Each soldier was handed a cloth napkin with a spoon in it, and a terra cotta plate. One lady deposited a scoop of mashed potatoes, another beef stew, and the last deposited collards on the plate. near the end of the line wre baskets filled with golden brown rows of fresh hard tack. Hector took three, one for now two for latter.

Hector took a seet at an empty table and looked at the brown, white and green concotion the cooks had made on his plate.

It was at this moment a senior boy tried to push Hector face first into his food hector was quick and pushed the plate away, only winding up with his head forehead slammed into the hard oak.

"Looks like this on has some spirit." The assailant said, the plate smashed and broke on the stone floor on the other side of the table. "But he also wastes his food, and breaks school property."

Hector growled deep in his throat, as the older boy kept grinding his forehead into the oak. The earth trembled ever so slightly.

"Better lose the attitude and recognize your betters, or I'll personally see to it your life here makes hell look like a walk in the park. I won't kill you, but you'll wish you were dead." Hector heard the laughter of others.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to be so wasteful with my food." Hector said as sincerly as he could manage.

"That's better. Now clean up the mess you made." The hand released him. He didn't turn to look. His cheeks were red with anger, but he choked it down. He crossed to the other side of the table and rolled up his sleeves. He started the ardous task of cleaning the food up with his hands. A sliver of pottery cut his finger. He winced and plucked the red orange shard out.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Pauline was also angry about what happened to Hector. She wanted to help badly, but she had already sat down and wouldn't be able to rise until she cleaned her plate. At least, that's what her instructor taught. Putting his training on how to eat quickly to use, Pauline said a small prayer and started to consume what was offered quickly, though her ladylike graces obviously shown through in the way she held her utensils and how she sat upright.
The food wasn't good, but at least it was edible and that was enough for Pauline to keep it all down as she finished in less than three minutes. After all, she didn't want that senior to do the same to her, though she imagined he would eventually anyway. In spite of being shaved bald and wearing a uniform now just like everyone else, everything she did just seemed to radiate a "rich girl" aura that she knew would be taken advantage of.

[Squishy Cheeks]

It was a few trips but he picked up all he could. He washed his hands at the pump and filled cup with water. He went back to the table and sat next to his roommates and a few other members of his squad. He took out one of the golden hard tack wafers from his pocket and dunked it in the water to soften it.

"Just a word to the wise," he said to everyone in a hushed tone. "stay on your toes. We're fresh meat, we should try to stick together if we're going to make it through this week let alone this first semester. Are you in?"

[Wolf99x]

Edward had been lucky when he had been selected as a target, the assailiant had decided to get him before he made it to the food line.

Well, ok maybe i wasn't that lucky, he thought as he got kicked in the ribs for the 2nd time after he tried to stand up. He wished he had seen the foot that tripped him before it happened, but such was not the case.

In between the beating and the talk he was getting from the upperclassmen about "how you should respect your superiors and stay down when they want you to stay down" he noticed two things

One was that the floor around him was getting warm. He quickly drove any impulse to retaliate through magic out of his mind

I'm not throwing away my chances right now, not for something like this he thought.

The other thing he noticed was that Hector had also been targeted, and had gotten things a lot worse.

There was another kick to his ribs. "Do you understand me?" said the voice of one of his tormenters.

"yes sir, I understand completely where I stand, well below the bottom rung of the ladder."

"Good"

his attacker left. Edward drove the anger from his mind, rubbed at his ribs a bit, and got in line.

He eventually reached the table where Hector and the others were just in time to hear Hector say "...we should try to stick together if we're going to make it through this week let alone this first semester. Are you in?"

He sat down. "After what just happened, of course I'm in." he said quietly to Hector

[Mesden]

"Yeah..." it was the only words the Adrina spoke, a slitted look in her eyes as she stared away at her 'betters', concealing her glare with a tilt of the head.

"Better because you're older? Damn bigots..."

The only tells that gave off her sustained feelings were the passionate eyes and clenched silverware in her right hand, her knuckles white and blood deprived as she let out what little anger she could on the utensil.

She didn't eat.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Pauline didn't say anything, deciding for something a little non-commital for the time being. She didn't care either way. Father would probably disown her out of shame should she fail, so she would either have to pass, die, or become some nameless lone wolf. Actually, the third option didn't sound all that terrible, but she thought she might pass anyways. After all, what mother had said...
"Once you're accepted, you should be able to start forging your own path, Pauline. Then maybe your father would see what mistakes he's making and all will be better in the end. Who knows? You might even find a handsome young hero to bring home with you when you return."
Pauline wasn't particularly interested. She was only fourteen and she didn't even know any boys her age.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"We're not going to beat them, but together, I know we can endure them. Honestly, do you not feel better knowing your comrades have your back in these trying times?"

_______________

Elsewhere in the school...

The dank cellar was dark even at noon time, it was cold, alone, isolated, perfect for his work. He worked the formulas again and made notes in his codex.

"5.4 grams a smaller load than expected, but all great endeavors start somewhere. Your generous donation to my research will not go wasted I assure you. After all you are now part of history in the making. You will be immortalized in the legend I will become."

He carressed her cheek almost lovingly. Her cold eyes were turning milky white, her skin pale as winter snow. Lifeless she lay there her dieng terror etched permanently on her pretty features.

"Now what to do with you now?"

[secretskull]

Roan watched the proceedings from his place in the food line. He was appalled at what he was seeing, but was too far away to help. He had arrived at the same time as the rest of the recruits, yet he somehow found himself stuck in the back of the line. Luckily, this afforded him a good view.

Eventually he reached the front of the line, he took a look at the unappetizing food, and was reminded of something. At one point, his father purchased the surplus rations from the army, as a way of saving money. After living on the stuff for two weeks, Roan was sure he could stomach most anything.

Roan made his way from the lunch line, giving a wide berth to anyone even remotely older then him. He sat down at the table Hector and the others were eating. He didn't quite know what to say, so he just sat there, staring at his food, and running through the things he could say. Absentmindedly, he took a sip of the soup, and grimaced. "Iron rations may just have a rival in the sub-par food business."

[dementedmongoose]

Michael dropped down in his seat, just as a senoir tried the same thing with him that had been done on Hector. Michael, on the other hand, was slightly more prepared. Instinctively, Michael slowed time to a crawl. Knowing he wouldn't have much time, Michael grabbed a particularly solid piece of gruel, jammed it up the senior's nose, poured some gruel onto the senior's head, and prepared for the beating that was soon to come.

[Jeneralissimo]

Justine saw the freshman attack the senior. She raised her hands to her head to run them through her hair as she often did when frustrated. She remembered belatedly that her hair wasn't there anymore. Well, that was stupid of him. "I think it is important that we stick together," she said to the young man who had spoken. "But we also have to be careful not to do anything stupid in the meantime. They'll give it up sooner if we don't react." She extended her hand to the young man, "Justine Calabria, Meridian Merchant Fleet."

[Squishy Cheeks]

The fight that was started by the time mage boiled over into an almost full on riot. Soon the administration and student faculty stepped in to break it up.

_____________

"198... Let's go maggots!" Sergeant Dura patrolled the parade ground as his aquad did push ups for their involvement in the lunch line. "You only have two more to go, and then I'll let you do your laps." The squad all strained to rise up on their arms as all the muscles ached.

The sergeant surveyed the group. "199.." Everyone collapsed to the ground again. "Last one." The group once again tried to rise. Hecotor's arms were shaking. He locked into place. eventually everyone did too. "200. On your feet!" Hector strugled to his feet and fell into attention.

"Now I'll let you have a small breather while I see what each of you can do." Sergeant Dura said. He took out a clip board. "Starting with you." he said pointing to Hector. "Name?"

"Private Greenleaf, sir."

"Nature mage perhaps?"

"Sir, no Sir. Geomancer."

Seargeant Dura coughed in surprise. "Geomancer's are very rare, are you pulling my leg private?"

"Sir, no sir."

"Then show me what you have."

Hector knealt and pressed his hand to the ground and began to chant in an almost low hum. it was weak at first, but the ground was pulsing. The flagpole vibrating was visual confirmation as the rhythmic shaking became more pronounced.

"That's enough. Is that as strong as it gets?"

"At the moment, Sir."

"Any other spells."

"Not in terms of geomancy sir, but I do hear certain events coming."

"Events?"

"Earthquakes, Volcanos, etc."

"Do you know any more useful spells than a spell to shake the ground?" The sergeant said making a note on the clip board.

"Well I learned this last year." Hector said. "Facade della pietra" He slamed his palm on the stones of the parade ground and his skin and clothes changed to match the pattern and grain of the stone. "It's a camouflage spell."

"That has a little more potential. You may step back in line Private Greenleaf." He made another note on the clip board.

"You.. Next. Name?"

[Mesden]

"Private Ceresti, sir." answered the soft-spoken, almost wheeze-like voice of the next freshman.

"Same as last. What's your magic?" The tone gave no show of expectance, no sign of real care. Just a harsh auothrity and demand to be instantly answered, powerful enough to send a shiver down the spine of Adrina, barely catching herself on her own slipping consciousness.

"Al-alchemy, sir." her voice barely came out as a broken mumble. Nearly completely inaudible. Although the Sergeant caught it, he wouldn't accept her unwanted show of weakness.

"PRIVATE! I gave you an order!" the bellowing voice shocked her, and if not for a last second catch of her mind, she would've easily jumped at the yell.

"Alchemy!" she half-croaked, half yelled.

"Demonstration." a single word sent a thousand messages to her. What to do? How to use it? Will I goof? Oh my god...

She knelt down as well, and with a quick rub of her hands she patted the ground as well.

A crackling, barely traceable crack of energy sparked within the earthen area after her small mumble of incomprehensible words ("Adda corshea"), mixing the small traces of rock, soil, plant life and anything else she could innately feel for. Taking small little characteristics of each thing and finally forming a small frame of work. A seemingly rock solid, Grass Rose. The stem was plantlike enough, but with a defining solidity to it, the kind that held up the bloom of petals that stood firm with any motion. Solid as a rock with the shapeliness, texture and pigment of grass. A minute display of Alchemic power.

She presented it to the Sergeant who immediately took it from her hands and inspected it. Feeling the strong plantlife, a small give to the touch, but a craft resistance that would prove difficult to attempt to break. With an unexpected action of handing the flower back to her slightly trembling hand, he asked another question.

"Is that it?" Inwardly, he was a tad surprised at her precision. Not perfect, far from it, but very good for an upstart.

"Sir, I have a specialty towards living things, sir."

"Alchemist and, healer?" even though it was a question, it was almost as if he branded her with with job. Good thing she was fully aware of it.

"Sir, yes sir!" the spark of nearly ever-present enthusiasm returned to her emerald eyes as she dropped her place back to attention.

"Well done." small, emotionless congratulations to her as he nodded for her to return to her place and moved on.

"Next."

[Armored Bishoujo]

"Sir, Private Valeria reporting as ordered, sir." Came Pauline's sharp, clear voice.
"Well, you sound like a girl who has a pair of her own." The sergeant said, finding her name on the clipboard. "Okay, first affinity."

"Necromancy, sir."

"...Let me just be the first to say that as you grow stronger, you'll make more people nervous. You'll have to be extra kind and open to make people comfortable with you. Understand, private?"
"Sir, yes sir."
"Spell?"
"Dark Sustenance. It's used to heal undead units, sir."
The sergeant looked at her, unconvinced. "Have you raised your own corpses to try out the spell yet?"
"No, sir. I cannot create Necrotic Shards yet."
"Then how do you know you can use the spell, private?"
"Before enlisting in the academy, my father paid a necromancer to let me see how capable I was at necromancy. I was able to use Dark Sustenance on his zombie to heal it, sir.
The sergeant wrote something on his clipboard. "Next affinity, private."

"Life Magic, sir."

"Well, that should help you earn some friends. Spell?"
"Lesser Healing, sir."
"Let's see it."
Pauline targeted herself. "Nisel Junah Varatu..." Pauline softly sang, and a small burst of pale violet and yellow light appears above her head and faded as roughly a dozen sparkles fell around her, also vanishing. It did little to remove her fatique but at least she knew any cuts or scrapes she had would be dealt with.
"Okay, good." The sergeant wrote something on the clipboard.

"Next."

[Wolf99x]

"Sir, Private Nerezza reporting sir!" Edward near shouted clearly.

"First affinity, private?" the sergeant asked.

"Shadow sclupting, sir." Edward said.
"Hmm...not many of them about," the sergeant said half to himself "Spell?"
"Shadowman" Edward said.
"Demonstration."

Edward looked about the field and saw a tree near the sergeant. "Certainly sir, if you will direct your attention to that tree over there."

Ok, Edward, don't screw this up, just like you practiced he thought to himself.

As the sergeant looked, Edward extended his hand towards the tree, focused on the shadows, and muttered "Uomo delle ombre"

The shadows on the tree quickly reformed into the shape of a man. The Sergeant almost looked surprised, but he regained his composure too fast to clearly notice.

"It won't stand up to scrutiny, but it can be used to distract people, sir." Edward said.

The sergeant turned back and wrote something on the clipboard. "Very well private, next affinity."

"Fire, sir."

"spell?"

"Nothing for offense of the moment, sir just something that compliments my first affinity." He reached his hand into the air and muttered "chiarore di luce"

A bright flash of light appeared a couple feet above his hands, lighting up the area even in the light of mid-day, and creating several well-defined shadows. The light stayed there for a few seconds and then vanished.

"Very good private" the sergeant said as he jotted a few things down in the clipboard.

"Next."

[dementedmongoose]

"Sir, Private Carver, Sir!" Michael barked.
"First affinity, Private?"
"Chronomancer, Sir."
"Demonstration. Other than your little mess-hall trick."
With that, Michael found a rock on the ground, threw it in a random direction, showed the sergeant that his hands were empty, and slowed time to a crawl. Plucking the slow moving rock out of the air, Michael rejoined formation, and allowed time to return to normal. Wincing slightly as the rock expended it's flying energy into his hand, Michael held up the rock for the sergeant to see. "Sir, I can use that on a bolt fired from a crossbow ten paces away, Sir."
"Secondary affinity."
"Sir, Pyromancy, Sir!"
"Demonstration, Private."
Dropping the rock, Michael instead pretended to have a bow in his hands. Drawing back the imaginary string, Michael concentrated on the image. As small flames began to lick their way into a line, Michael loosed the string. A thin line of flame shot out from there, burying itself into a fencepost across the field. Moments later, the fencepost burst into flames, and another moment later, it was reduced to ash.
"Interesting tricks, Private. Next."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Private Archer." A pale boy said stepping from the ranks.

"Affinity"

"Second sight"

"... A Seer? That's not an actual field of magic private. Or something that can easily be varified. Any other affinities?"

"I've only shown apptitude in counterspells sir. Please, take a step to the right sir." The boy asked.

The sergeant crossed his arms and stared the boy down who began to flinch. Then the sergeant felt a splat on his left shoulder. A gift from a seagull. The sergeant grimaced and pulled a hankerchief from his pocket and began to wipe the bird dropping off his shoulder.

"I suppose you think that's funny." The sergeant said to the squad. Hector was trying to supress a laugh.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Pauline didn't laugh. She couldn't even blink. She did want to say that at least he had proved his ability as a seer, but she kept quiet. The sergeant most likely had a short temper for smartass remarks, and for good reason.

[batgirl]

The sergeant eyed the group menacingly before moving on. "And you are?"

"Sir! Private Rosario sir!"

"You're a private?"

"Sir yes sir!" The girl towered over all of her squadmates as she faced the sergeant. "Bit big for your age, what have you got?"

"Sir water magic sir!"

"Show me," he said. She rubbed her hands together and kept them together while chanting her spell. Acre Cohete Agua... As she pulled her hands apart, a large strait piece of ice came out of them. "It can be used as a melee weapon as well as a ranged weapon sir."

"Very good, what else?"

"Uh...."

"Well soldier!"

"I'm bound to a water elemental sir..."

"A bloody infernomancer are you?"

"Sir no sir! I am not bound to demon sir! I am bound to Leviathan of the seas sir!"

"I don't care if you're bound to the goddamned toothfairy! Show me!"

She nodded nervously and drew a symbol in the ground before putting her hand on it and chanting, Voco serpiente! A puff of smoke appeared and as it cleared a water snake the size of an large viper came into view. "I can summon bigger ones sir."

"Get that out of my sight, next!"

[Red Mage Black]

Sieg was standing in his place the whole time. He didn't say anything as to avoid unwated attention. Can we move through this faster? He shifted the hood over his head as to cover his face, his eyes glowing red underneath. It was apparent he wasn't going to be paid attention to anytime soon. Who knows, maybe he would have his chance to speak.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"DID YOU HEAR ME RED EYES!?!" Sergeant Dura yelled at Sieg. "Get your head out of the clouds and state your name and affinities!"

[Red Mage Black]

"My name... is Sieg Wolfe. First affinity..." He removed the hood covering his head. "Infernomancy. My second affinity is... Earth."

Sieg looked up at the man yelling at him. His head tilted to the side a bit. He stared back into the eyes of the sergeant.

"Did you know... when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares right back into you." An evil grin appeared on his face. Either this was going to end up good or bad.

[Squishy Cheeks]

(I count 3 people who still need to introduce their power.)

Sergeant Dura snapped his fingers. Sieg felt a sudden sharp pain in his lungs. The pain dropped him to his knees and he began to cough up blood.

"I don't know what hellmouth you crawled out of, but if you show me any more insobordination, I'll send you to your master's arms alot faster than it intended."

He turned to the next in line.

"NEXT!"

[secretskull]

"Private Brent, Sir!” Roan stepped forward, saluting.
“What is your magical affinity?”
“Fire, and Air Sir!
Roan had noticed that all the mages so far, had a rare affinity of some sort. He was the first one that didn’t. So, when he said affinity, Roan could have sworn he saw dissapointment on the Sergeants face.
“Well? Get on with it!”
Roan jumped. “Right away Sir!”
Roan spread his fingers, and a small orb of fire, formed on each one. He released them into the air, and made them weave through each other. Then, he joined the orbs together, creating a good-sized fireball. The fireball crashed into the ground, leaving a scorch mark.
“Excellent. Anything else?
“Well…”
Roan took a few backwards.
“Is this any good Sir?” He asked, his voice coming from behind the Sergeant.
He was sorely tempted to add: “ Or should I find you another seagull?” He didn’t, remembering the consequences of his last practical joke.
“How far away can you make that trick work Private?
“As far away as I can see, Sir. Perhaps farther.”
He made a note on his clipboard.
“Next!”

[Jeneralissimo]

"Sir, Private Calabria, Sir!"

"First affinity, Private!"

"Air, Sir!"

"Don't just stand there, show me what you got!"

Justine looked towards the same tree that Edward had used for his spell. She concentrated on summoning a wind, nothing too powerful, just enough to show off a bit. When she looked up, leaves from the tree were scattered all over the ground and the tree was bare. "Very useful as a weapon, sir."

"Alright, I'll grant you that." The sargeant said grudgingly as he marked it off on his clipboard. "You can rake all those up later. Secondary affinity?"

"Water, sir."

"Spell?"

Justine thought of all the sea storms she had fought against. Too bad I can't prove any of that right now. "Sir, I can breathe underwater, sir! Unfortunately, I don't see any water around. Permission to prove myself at the academy pool at a later time, sir!"

"If you're making this up..." The sargeant warned angrily.

"I assure you, sir, I am not." Justine replied.

The sargeant gave her one last look before he continued on to the next private.

[Squishy Cheeks]

(that's it, no more waiting.)

"I am Sergeant Antoine Dura. My affinities are for life magic, and for air magic. I am a senior at this academy, I am responsible for you maggots, and I will mold you into fine young cadets. It I tell you to do something, you will do it. Feel free to ask questions in an appropriate manner at the appropriate times, and always in a respectful manner. Failure to do so will result in punishment for the squad. You are all one now, and when one of you is punished, you all are punished. When one of you is rewarded you all are rewarded. I expect excellence from each and every one of you."

He took out a whistle and blew it.

"When you hear this you are to stop what you are doing immediately and turn your attention to me. Is that clear."

"Yes, Sergeant." the squad replied.

"Now we are going to do a full lap around the grounds. Form up 3 people to a row."

The squad took the appropraite formation.

"You are to stay in this formation while running, this is not a race. Squad! Forward!" Sergeant Dura ran along side his squad. He set only a moderate pace.

The squad ran toward the dorms.

"These are the dormatories, you will respect your fellow students and not cause trouble."

The squad turned to the right.

"This is the armory, and field." The armory was a stone building with a thatch roof, next to it was a field of green running along the fortification. "We will be drilling weapons training here."

The squad made another right and cut across the garden lined parade ground.

"This is the parade ground, we will drill your formations and marching here. Squad Right"

The squad turned to the right again.

"These are the academics halls, The majority of your classes will be here." The halls were brick and embelished with marble, like the administration buildings. "Squad right."

The next building was a marble building dominated by a large dome. on the pediment were gold letters reading "Half of wisdom is knowing where to find it."

"This is the library. You will spend most of your free time here." They ran past the impressive building.

"This is the gauntlet." Next to the library was a maze of obstacles. "We will be running this bright an early tommorrow. SQUAD RIGHT!"

"These are the infirmary, warehouse, and workshop." The three buildings were fairly none descript.

"This of course the cafeteria. Squad Right!"

"These are the administration buildings. Squad Halt!"

The squad was sweaty and exhausted, the campus sprawled for miles and the run around it was long.

"Now we are going to the library and you are allowed to check out one item. The advanced magics are off limits except to seniors, so no funny business. You are to pick an item appropriate to your skill level, you will be asked to show what you've learned at the end of the month. SQUAD RIGHT! Squad Forward!"

_______________

The interior of the library had many floors. all centered around the columns beneath the dome. four spiral stair cases wound up the open center beneath the dome. In the center were rows upon rows of tables and chairs. Blue and gold orbs provided light to the rooms. Behind the desk there was a decending stair case.

Hector looked at a placard saying where he could find earth magics. He soon found alarge scroll labeled "Whispering Sands by Omar Ibn Abdul Alhazred." He glanced at it and found the ideas in it most interesting. He tucked the large scroll under one arm and made his way down the stairs from the third floor. He sat at a table and opened it again. The scroll was old and smelled of desert spices.

[batgirl]

Angelina browsed the shelves of the library looking for something suitable to read and settle on a large scroll entitled "Your Spirit Guide and You: An Illustrated Tale of Soul Ownership." She settled down across from Hectar and acknowleged him with a nod.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Pauline had remembered the necromancer also telling her about the various levels of scrolls and had mentioned one which would teach her about the processing of extracting and using Necrotic Shards.
It was quite easy to find it, too. "To the Heart of Heresy: Raising Your First Corpses" by the Necromancer Halgravar.
If Pauline mastered what this scroll taught, she was sure to be able to raise her first undead units. Pauline took a seat at a corner of the table, ran her right hand over her shaven head, and started reading the first words quietly.

[Wolf99x]

Edward scoured the library shelves, looking for anything on Shadow Sculpting. While there wasn't much, he did find a scroll that he recalled his private instructor had mentioned: Shadows and How You Can Manipulate Them to Your Advantage

he smirked a bit: If there was ever a scroll that was titled its contents he thought. Sitting down at the same table as the others, he began reading.

[Squishy Cheeks]

There wasn't much sand around, only dust, and some patches of mud on the floor from filthy shoes. He began to make the described hand signs on the easiest spell in the scroll. "s...sab..." The pronounciation of the spells True name was dificult for Hector. The dust and mud mad a dust devil around him, much to the discomfort of those arround him. "Sorry, I was giving this spell a try. I didn't realize it would make such a mess."

[batgirl]

Angelina read through the scroll, scratching down notes in her own parchment with her quill. Her eyes settled on an interesting paragraph. "Communication..." She read through it and made a note of the hand seals and spells. She then rose, "I'll be back in a moment." Leaving her stuff at her seat, she walked into the washroom. After checking to see if anyone was in there, she plugged up the sink and ran the water until it filled three quarters of the way. She then used her finger to draw symbols in the swirling water before placing her hands flat on it and mumbling the spell. Sermo speriente Leviatan.

[Squishy Cheeks]

A serpentine shape made of water rose from the porcelain sink bowl. It's eyes glowed yellow.

"Hello nice lady." The serpent said in a nasally high pitch voice. "I'm Leviathan the second."

[batgirl]

Angelina looked crestfallen. "Ah, I wished to speak with Leviathan the first. I am one who is bound to him."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Papa is busy." The serpent said. "Do you wanna play?"

[batgirl]

Angelina cocked an eyebrow, "play what?"

[Armored Bishoujo]

Pauline figured she had the gist of it.
As it goes, when someone dies, their soul is ripped from their body because the body is no longer able to support life. As body and soul separate, it becomes somehow possible to extract Necrotic Shards during that very thin window of time.
The spell that would allow Pauline to extract Necrotic Shards from living beings on the verge of death was detailed below. Thankfully, the science and all the big words were both left out, giving just the steps and-
Pauline blinked. Apparently, this was a necromancer appointed by the academy to provide instruction to necromancers who were enrolled. She learned that captured monsters of appropriate vitality would be killed and thus used for the extraction spell as well as a corpses from the morgue to practice reanimation on. That was a relief. Pauline wasn't sure how she was going to actually perform these spells that depended on the dying and dead, and she didn't want to disappoint the Sergeant like with the Dark Sustenance spell.

[dementedmongoose]

Michael searched through tomes that were obviously centuries old, but still appeared new. Must've been powerful magic in those books to appear new at least six hundred years after their writing. Grabbing a book entitled "Your Life Without Time" by an unknown writer, Michael settled down at the table with the others, reaching into a pocket for his journal.

"The first thing you must learn is to move time forward at will, by focusing your magicks at the internal parts, rather than the external. Unlike most magicks, your chronomancy is fully irreparable. Attempt to age the back cover of this book by focusing on the future, not what you see. If you focus on what you see, you simply move the book everywhere it will go in the future. You must instead focus on the future, so that it will age without moving. To finalize this magick, you must focus on the image of what it is and what it was, or else the magick will revert.

Michael turned to the back of the book, to see the back cover completely missing, and in its place a disintegrating piece of paper reaching to the very edge of the spine. Looking around, Michael spied a chair in the corner. Pulling it over, he focused his mind on what the chair would look like two hundred years from now. As he focused, the paint as thinned, then chipped. Slowly, one leg was eaten away. Deciding that it was more than satisfactory, Michael focused on finalizing. As he focused, a sharp pain ripped through his skull, then into his stomache. As he felt the bile rising in his throat, Michael dashed for the latrine, emptying his lunch into the hole.

Edit: Done.

[Jeneralissimo]

Justine browsed through the scrolls, wondering what she was looking for. She hadn't had much experience with intonations and whatnot. She mostly just did what needed doing. When her father's ships were threatened, she found the strength in herself to challenge the storm and just did what had to be done. Most of the time it worked. Sometimes, though... She saw the Morning Star being broken on the rough waves. She fingered the old compass in her pocket. Verys had given it to her the first time she had saved his ship from a storm. That was back when the men were still worried about having a female on the ship. No time to dwell in the past now. She chided herself. Her eyes finally settled on a scroll entitled "Carrying Voices on the Wind". It described a technique for allowing the spellcaster to overhear conversations by summoning a wind and then carrying it back to themselves. She summoned a light breeze in the library, something that might happen if an outside door were opened. It took her a while to find people even talking in the library. By the time she did, the strain from maintaining the spell start to show, and the breeze dissapated. She had never realized how hard it was to just hold something like that. It would have been easier, almost, for her to summon a greater wind than to maintain a small breeze. Oh well, she thought, I still have plenty of time to learn this. I'm just nervous because I am not used to spellcasting.

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: Demented that spell is way to strong for your character, either write in some bad feedback or edit and tone the spell back. Also learning magic isn't easy. You're charachters are not going to get it right the first time. My spell was a catastrophic failure.

[Wolf99x]

Edward had been reading through the scroll for quite some time now, trying to find something he was sure he could master. He had found something that didn't seem too difficult to do. It was a spell that allowed him to quite literally, swim in shadows. While it wouldn't be useful for small shadows, long and twilight shadows could be used as if they swimmming pools or even lakes.

Well, i'm probably going to have to test this out at night...or in an area with large shadows to make sure i'm doing it right, though there are easier ways to test, he thought as he began reading over the incantation.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Hey three eyes," Hector said to Archer. "Why didn't you get a book or a scroll?"

Archer rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses.

"Mind's eye right, that was clever. There is nothing for me to learn that they aren't going to teach me anyway, and besides I'm not going to be here for long."

"What do you mean. Are you going to get kicked out."

"Someting like that..."

______________________

"I wouldn't try anything funny, the walls are inscribed with Anti Elemental runes and silence fields, so scream all you want no one will hear a thing and your magic won't work here either."

"ELECTRO PANZER!!!" The blond girl exclaimed. Her blue eyes filled with tears of fear as the magic didn't come. He grabbed her red cloak and pulled her close.

"So you liked to toy with Alchemy. Let me show you what a real Alchemist can do."

He took a small stilleto like knife the size of a nail and carved a symbol into her neck.

_______

"only 3 grams in this harvest." He said as he kicked her drained corpse. "It would have been nice to know if she was anemic before hand. I'm going to have to pull the medical records."

[secretskull]

Roan studied the books on the shelf. One of the books, with its vibrant cover, caught his eye. It was called "The Conjecture of Separate Spells: Theory and Practice". He refilled through it, and quickly saw that it was far too advanced for him, or most anyone in fact. It was obviously an advanced book, put here by mistake. He was about to tell the librarian on duty when he paused. "Someone obviously put this here for a reason," he murmured, unaware that he was speaking out loud. "I'd better just leave it here."
He returned the book, tucking it behind Making Sparks: A Beginners Guide.
Eventually he another book, Fanning the Flames: Combining Fire and Air. By Karel Geros. Most of the chairs in the library seemed to have been damaged in one accident or another over the years. Taking the book, he made his way toward one of the sturdier ones. As he read, his hands unconsciously began making a few of the required spell movements...

[Red Mage Black]

Sieg focused on the sharp pain he felt when the Sergeant did his little trick. 'Such a powerful spell. But why an effect without an incantation?' A little voice in his head laughed. 'Who's there?' He asked in his mind, as if someone in the library could read it. There was no reply back.

He stepped up from his seat and began to wander around. Sieg found himself in front of a book. A hand was making spell gestures off to the side. Not wanting to get in the way of the spell he sat himself in a seat near the user.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Sieg didn't notice it at first but he was sitting across from a man with skin as black as pitch. He wore a stylish leather coat over what looked like wrought iron chain mail. His coat was lined with spikes on the shoulders.

"Some investmet you turned out to be, felled by minor air spell. I thought I made you stronger than that."

[Red Mage Black]

Sieg looked up at the man. "I must not be at full power then. It gave me a chance to know what to expect from those with an air affinity. Soon they shall be nothing but a cool breeze. Why are you here anyway?" The mans arrival was a bit unexpected to Sieg. But he sat straight and awaited his answer.

(OOC: Am I talking to the demon? If not I'll revise the post.)

[Squishy Cheeks]

"You'll get your education soon enough, but I have a job for you."

___________________

Sergeant Dura soon callede them away from their studies, They checked out their books or scrolls and filed out.

"Due to your poor behavior at lunch today, the officers have decided a fitting punishment. You are to be denied dinner tonight and you are given scullery duty (dish washing the old fashioned way.)" He smirked. "You are to report to the dining hall on the double. Do I make myself clear?"

"SIR! YES SIR!" The squad responded.

"DISMISSED!"

Hector and the other made their way to the backdorr of the dining hall. They knocked at the kitchen door.

An old crone answered. She had a wart on her nose of extraordinary size.

"Wha' you want." She said in her manner.

"Freshmen Beta Squad reporting for duty." Hector said. He saluted the crone.

"Righ' 'is way" the crone said and led them through hall marked with different types of storage. she opened a door to a room of rough stone with a water pump and a large stone basin. Along the walls were shelves of jars of varios powders most of them blue. beneath the shelf were many mangy brushes all of them with metal bristles. on the other side of the room flies circled a pile of cast iron cookware covered in filth, next to that were many piles of plates and tin cups.

"'ere you are now." She herded the squad in. "NOW GET TO WORK!"

_______________
6 hours later...

Hector and the others entered the mens dormatory as it was closer and porompty collapsed in the closest available chairs.

"I feel like I went fifteen rounds with Mighty Thor" Hector said to no one in particular.

"I feel like I got mauled by a demon." Private Archer said. His face in his hands. He ran his hands through his hair. "New rule, no more picking fights with the other squads. Agreed?"

[Red Mage Black]

"A mission eh?" Sieg sat back in his chair. The chance to go on a mission was interesting to him. "You have my attention. Tell me about this mission you want me to do."

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: that was seven hours ago... pay attention

[Mesden]

Back in the Women's dorms...

Adrina came in with a large sigh and a larger plop on the first bed near her, not caring whose it was.

"HATE washing dishes." she cried out through the muffling pillow she had ground her face into.

[Wolf99x]

Edward did his best to shrug off the numbing pain in his fingers. "Agreed," he responded to Archer's question.

Well...apart from that I at least think i may have learned how to do the shadowswim spell...but now is not the time to test it out, especially cause i'm not diving into any shadows personally, not until I know I have it figured out.

He stumbled over to his bed and sat down. I think I'm going to need a stick.

[Armored Bishoujo]

As soon as Pauline entered the room, first she sighed.
"Maybe if the boys in our squad don't cause anymore trouble, we won't have to. Of course, that doesn't excuse us from behaving ourselves as well."
Then she promptly shed her uniform and folded it neatly on the bed.
She located and removed a towel, a pair of obviously cheap flip-flops, a bar of soap, a wash cloth, a mug, a toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste from her locker.
She put the toothbrush and paste in the mug and set it aside.
Then she undressed completely and put her underwear in the laundry sack, wrapping herself up in the towel immediately afterwards and donning the flip-flops before exiting the room.
Finally, picking up the soap, wash cloth, and the mug, she left the room and went to the latrine/showers for this section of the girl dormitories. There were already some girls there, a few in the showers, several more at the sinks and mirrors. This was her first time exposing her body to people other than her mother when she was a very small girl. Oh, there was also the necromancer who helped her understand her potential and taught her the first spell, though he never told her why he needed her to be undressed at that one time.
Pauline found an empty spot on the bench, set down the mug and took off the towel, folding it neatly next to the mug.
The water felt great on her sore shoulders, though Pauline would've liked it to be hotter. She realized that she forgot the shampoo, then suddenly remembered that she didn't have any hair on her head.
"..."
The droplets of water smashed playfully on her face.
"..."
Streams of water cleansed her of the sweat buildup from the running and the pushups and the punishment.
"..."
She would stay in for one more minute.
"... ... ..."
"I think we can use you. I look forward to seeing you again, Miss Valeria."
"...!"
Pauline turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, drying herself off. She must have been daydreaming, but that necromancer had said that.
"I think we can use you. I look forward to seeing you again, Miss Valeria."
What had he meant when he said that? Maybe an invitation to something? She didn't understand. Once she had dried herself, she wiped up any water that had dripped off onto the bench and floor, and put on the towel and flip-flops, going to one of the mirrors. She looked tired as she started brushing her teeth.

[Red Mage Black]

Sieg's mind pondered the task at hand. He blankly stared at the ceiling from his bed. During the dish washing, he couldn't keep himself focused. Sieg placed one hand up and began to draw a circle in the air, which was followed by a triangle on the inside, and a large square surrounding it. He had no idea what it meant but the image was stuck in his mind.

Sieg sat up from his bed and slowly began to stand up. He headed out the door and stood in the hallway. 'Let me see if I can find it on my own.' Sieg closed his eyes. Hopefully he would have the same sensing ability as who he served.

[Jeneralissimo]

Justine somewhat regretted taking the top bunk now. She didn't really feel like climbing up there. However, it beat sleeping on the floor. She changed into her pajamas and collapsed on the bed. She would worry about showering in the morning. More than likely, she would need it to wake up. She heard Adrina's comment muffled through the pillow. She leaned down and said, "Just be glad we didn't have to clean the latrines yet. Now that's something to look forward to. Anyhow, get some sleep. You'll be glad you did in the morning." And with that she leaned back and promptly fell asleep.

[dementedmongoose]

"I'll not fight if they leave me alone." Michael said coldly as he stalked into the room. "Besides, nobody asked you to jump in. I had them under control. It was just three." Dropping onto his bed, Michael flipped his book open, and began studying.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"You threw one of them into me and then he punched me in the face." Hector said in reply. "Mind you he punched like a girl."

[Mesden]

"You're optimism is like saying 'Oh hey! Don't worry about that influenza, the plague is coming by in a week!' " even through her sarcasm and muffled mouth, Adrina giggled. Sometimes, you just needed to laugh off the hard times.

[batgirl]

Angelina washed her dishes in silence. She had needed to do this when she started training to be a sailor, so she did her task without complaining. She felt a pang of anger at the boys for causing this in the first place, but it couldn't be helped and was out of her hands.

After the dishes had been done, she dragged herself back to her room and collapsed on her bed after quickly changing her clothes. Lying on the sheets, she began to drift off.

[Squishy Cheeks]

(ooc: Time skip)

"Good morning squad," Sergeant Dura said with a smile. "I hope you slept well, you;ll need all your energy. Today you're running the gauntlet." He pointed to the large obstacle course. The first part consisted of trenches and tunnels, followed by a ropes course in the small group of trees. beyon that were barricades, wires, mud pits and many other obstacles to overcome. Sourrounding the course were wooden watch towers. In each watch tower there was at least one person. Along the track at several points were stone walls seemingly built to supply cover.

"This will be a live fire exercise, hopefully none of you will die. I'd hate to force you to clean your friend off one of the obstacles. You have one hour to complete and every member of the squad has to finish for the squad to pass. When I blow my whistle you are to begin."

Hector readied himself.

The whistle was blown. Hector dove for the trench as quickly as he could and ducked for cover as a Fireball splashed into the rim of the trench. Searing dirt hit his arms. "KEEP LOW!!!" He shouted as he crawled out of sight of the first tower. "Any one got any idea how to neutralize that tower?" A fireball hit Sieg throwing him against the wall, but he didn't seemed to be burned by it. (some demonic infernomancers are immune to fire spells, in fact fire spells tend to heal their wounds.)

[Wolf99x]

Edward rubbed a few shards of glass off of his shirt as another fireball landed near them, scattering dirt into the trench.

"Well, I don't have anything offensive to utilize, though I could buy us some time by blinding the guard with a flare."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Better than nothing at this point. I'll scout ahead. Hector cast his camouflage spell and ran through the trench keeping as low as possible. The trench forked into a tunnel leading toward the tower, and a trench leading away, but at an angle the tower would have a clear sniping position. Hector listened to the song of the packed earth and entered the tunnel.

[Wolf99x]

Ok, let's see if I can manage this Edward thought. He turned to the others.

"Ok, I'm going to put up a flare to distract the guard. This will allow us to move across the trench for a bit without being shot at. Assuming the second idea I have works, we'll have about 10 seconds to move."

He began to recite the flare incantation and prepared to aim his spell upward.

***

Up in the tower, the guard saw somebody's hand go up, but as he prepared to cast a fireball, there was a sudden flash of light that obscured his vision. As he tried to regain his bearings, he suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye to his left. He looked, and saw what looked like a person in the shadows nearby. He cast a fireball. The blast just barely missed hitting the tower he was in.

***

Back in the trench, Edward grinned a bit. He had hoped that the guard would've set his own tower ablaze when he fired at his decoy, but apparently no such luck. He'd take the distraction though.

"Ok, let's get moving, quickly but discreetly."

He began to head off towards where Hector had moved.

[Squishy Cheeks]

The tunnel was long and lined with wooden supports, but no light. The stones didn't seem to burdened. The tunnel tunred to the right and let out into another trench on the other side of the tower. The murder trench also seemed to join back at this point. Hector crawled back finding the others at the fork. He motioned for them to come into the tunnel.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Pauline veered into the tunnel, half breathing and half coughing. "Fireball...kicked up a pretty big dust cloud. Thank God it didn't get in my eyes."
She reached down to her singed leg. "Lesser Healing." she said between breaths, and her hand and the wound took on a bright blue luminescence, removing the stinging sensation and most of the actual wound. She felt pretty helpless. Dark Sustenance couldn't be used on the living and there were no bodies near death for her to try and extract a Necrotic Shard from. Survival meant totally depending on the talents of the others.

[secretskull]

Roan lobbed a fireball at the Watchtower behind them, and turned to Hector.

"Umm. Hector Sir?" He said apologetically, stepping forward.

"Perhaps it would be better if I went in first?” He conjured a small fireball at the end of his finger, smiling weakly.
“I have a light, and perhaps I can be of assistance with the next Watchtower we encounter?

[Squishy Cheeks]

"The path is clear and it's one direction. light isn't an issue unless you're scared of the dark."

Hector heard a screeching sound overhead and saw dozens of fire balls arcing in the sky.

"SHIT! NO TIME! INTO THE TUNNEL!"

He scrambled in as quickly as he could and as far as he could go before he figured the fire storm spell would hit. He covered his head and felt the tremors in the earth as the trench behind him was carpet bombed by fire balls.

"I think you made him mad."

[dementedmongoose]

Michael calmly focused on his power, slowing the fireballs that hadn't landed yet to a near halt. "CHRONOMANCER!" he said slowly, clearly pronouncing every syllable. Releasing the fireballs, Michael almost burst into laughter as they crashed to the earth. sending sand flying at high speeds.

[Wolf99x]

Edward had scrambled into the tunnel just behind Hector. "Ok, where do we go from here?"

[Mesden]

" 'The Gauntlet!' What an idea!" Adrina scoffed, shaking her head near the midback of the group.

She turned to Edward, "Anywhere but thataway." her thumb pointed back out to the havoc outside.

[batgirl]

Angelina dove into the tunnel near the back of the pack. "I agree, moving forward would be a good move. If we can get to the other side of the tunnel I might be able to take out the tower mage with an ice spear."

[Squishy Cheeks]

"Good idea." The tunnel let out into a new trench the slowly rose and ended at the start of the ropes course. "We're going to be easy targets if we run for that ropes course."

"He won't fire on us once we make it to the next course." Archer said "There is a wind mage gaurding that area. Also try not to kill the guy in the tower. That would be bad. I'll provide you cover" Archer said the Angelina. "I'm ready when you are."

[Armored Bishoujo]

Pauline had her eyes on the way they had come from once she moved up with the leads. It was unlikely that the enemy would be allowed to descend from their towers, and it was probably from the best. On the ground, things would be a lot more even. She wondered if father and mother had signed something that told them there was a chance their daughter could quite possibly die during any exercise, and assumed ultimately that their daughter was up to the challenge. That is, if she really deserved to rule the city one day and become exponentially wealthy and high profile. She sighed and turned her attention to the front, listening to the others.
"Don't you just wish you could summon the vengeful dead to consume the living flesh of these pathetic fledgling mages as they scream for mercy, Miss Valeria?"
Pauline shook her head vigorously, not sure if she was imagining the voice or really heard it.

[batgirl]

Angelina was thinking of how she could disable the tower. She needed some cover from the fireballs if she was to aim carefully. Then an idea struck her. "You! Archer! You know counter spells right? Cover me from the fireballs while I take out the mage on the tower." Trusting in her teammate she moved ahead of the others and exited the tunnel. She stood up, her tall frame making her a target and muttered the incantation to her spell while rubbing her hands together. The mage spotted her and began hurling fireballs in her direction. She didn't have time to think, she just made her ice spear and threw it at the mage, hoping it would hit him in arm like she had aimed. She then dove to the ground and hoped that Archer would shield her from the rain of fire.

[Squishy Cheeks]

"yeah, I said that." He popped up and chanted rapidly. He plucked the fireballs out of the air with his hands each one disappearing as soon as he touched it.

"Time to move." Hector said he took off at a dead sprint toward the ropes. He grabbed the rope ladder and started to climb as fast as he could.

[Wolf99x]

Edward was second to reach a rope, he began climbing as fast as he could, but realized he had to slow down because his right arm was giving him trouble.

I can't afford to slow down too much, but it beats losing my grip, he thought as he took his climbing speed down slightly.

[dementedmongoose]

OOC: Yes, this is my resignation from the thread. I'm swamped, and something's gotta give. I think I've given him a good window to die. If someone wants him, or you want to keep him on as an NPC, then you can figure out how to rescusitate him. If not, kill him in about a week, in case I come back. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Michael was strolling along, almost unconcerned, activating his power whenever a fireball came too close. Suddenly, a fireball he missed exploded in front of him, sending him sprawling to the ground. Just as he got to his knees, one of the fireballs he'd slowed exploded right by his side, burning him further. As Michael slipped into unconsciousness, his power faded out, and the fireballs began exploding around him, one even grazing his skin before Michael's fire magic moved it. Michael's last conscious thought was his realization of the irony of him surviving six violent years at the hands of people he'd called his friends, and a year of living in the wild, just to die here.

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: we all need to cross the finish line to pass, so someone pick him up.

[Armored Bishoujo]

OOC: "Well...that's certainly convenient. Thoughts about how to use the spell aside, I think Pauline can use him to extract her first Necrotic Shard."

Pauline waited for the opportunity as the mages exhausted some of their mana and had to recharge. She quickly dove out of cover, swept her arms underneath his shoulders, and hurriedly dragged him to safety.
Her instructor had taught her the fireman's method of carrying people, saying that it was the most efficient way for one person to take an unconscious victim somewhere fast. Hopefully, he didn't have any broken bones. She didn't wait, already going through the motions of getting him sideways onto her shoulders and hunching over, hooking his left arm and leg onto her chest and hugging them there. If he was already dead, she could at least use him as a shield from the back. Pauline focused on what was ahead and ran as fast as she could, sweat breaking out and her legs and back starting to complain from the new weight.
"Tragic? Yes. But an opportunity. It's like they were practically handing you someone near death to take the real first step into being a true necromancer."
That was true, though Pauline didn't like the idea of making the one depending on her the first victim that Pauline would attempt to extract a Necrotic Shard from. When she got to the rope ladders, she seriously considered leaving him in someone else's hands. She had been trained well, but she was still just a fourteen-year old girl who belonged to the rich and powerful ruling Valeria family.
"But if I don't do this, I'll get yelled at and the whole squadron will be punished."
She had to at least try. Taking the first step, Pauline could feel her body aching as her foot left the ground. Teeth gritting and her chest and back awash with sweat, she pulled herself up with the boy still slung over her shoulders up bit by bit. "I can do it...I can do it."
The chanting helped, but only so much. Suddenly, he slipped off her shoulders.
"Shit!"
She managed to grab his right ankle, the sudden yanking nearly making Pauline fall herself. But she was close enough to the top to get-
"Help! Someone, I need a hand!"

[Red Mage Black]

"Humph", Sieg scoffed walking out into the field, fireballs flying. His eyes lit up as he let out the incantation, "Viel Körperillusion."

As he walked out among the field, his body started to produce doubles and even his doubles started to produce doubles. "This should keep them busy for a while."

[secretskull]

Roan had only just finished climbing up the ladder when he heard Pauline cry out. He spun around quickly, and ran back to the ladder.
He stopped for one momentin shock, when he saw Pauline hanging there. Shakiing himself, Roan knelt down toward her. "If I could just… grab your wrist", he muttered, stretching out his arm, as far as it could go. He managed to grab Pauline; unfortunately, Roan's palms were sweaty by now, making everything even more complicated.

Roan pulled, feeling as if his arm was about to be pulled out by its socket. He imagined that Pauline felt much worse.
With one last heave he managed to pull Pauline up.
”Let me carry him for now,” He told her, panting heavily. “You should try and run behind me, so that you can catch him if something happens.”
At that moment his brain caught up with what he was saying. “I-If that is all right with you of course,” He added hurriedly, bowing his head slightly.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Hector was holding the over head line as he tried to cross the rope bridge. he felt the line shake a little and felt wind rustle the leaves. He turned to see another tower at a distance. and the coming of a large gust.

"EVERYONE HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" the rope above him was slack enough he could wrap it once arond his left hand. The wind hit hard and the trees rocked back and forth. the rope bit into his hands as he felt his body lifted. He held on for dear life as he was whipped around like a flag in the wind. twigs, leaves and branches cut at his exposed skin. The wind died as suddenly as it came he dangled on the line for a second or two befor getting his fitting and unwrapping his now bloody left hand. He moved to safety to the next platform as quickly as possible. So we have a wind mage now.

[Jeneralissimo]

Justine ran to the front of the group and answered the mage's blast with some wind of her own. It wouldn't hold him off too long, but if she could buy her squad some time..........

"Guys, run on ahead. I'm just going to need someone to cover me once I run out of energy. Hurry up! Go! I'm not going to be able to hold him much longer!" Shit, I'm getting weak already. I can't have them carry me and Michael to the end of the course. She let go of the wind spell and stumbled off towards the group, hoping the mage wouldn't have enough time to recover and hit her again.

[Armored Bishoujo]

"You may have just saved both our lives, sir." Pauline responded with a tired smile, indicating both herself and Michael "I'd be a fool not to bust my ass for you in return."
Cursing herself for having a healing spell that didn't cure fatique, only wounds, Pauline vowed silently to stick by Roan through the rest of this. He'd need her help with Michael as much as she needed his.

[Wolf99x]

Edward had almost fallen off when the wind mage attacked, his right arm aching in pain from his past injury, plus all the branches that had sliced into it had made him lose his grip partially, but he somehow managed to hold on. Pulling himself up slowly but surely, he managed to get his injured right arm back into action and dragged himself finally up to the top.

Looking about, he saw Justine staggering back, clearly fatigued. He aimed his hand at the tower where the wind mage was and cast another flare.

"With any luck, he'll be seeing spots for a bit!" he said as he began moving up with the others, heaving in air slightly. I have to watch myself, I don't want to suddenly drop because i overextended my ability

[Squishy Cheeks]

"I'm gonna see if I can do anything about that mage. I'll catch up later. Go! I'll try to buy you some time." Hector leapt from the platform and landed on the ground with a roll. HE planted his hands in the soft earth and started chanting.

[Mesden]

Adrina was...following. She wasn't a tactics master. She wasn't a trained soldier. She wasn't much of a fighter or defender with her skills. She was an ally, but she had no clue what she was doing.

But when she saw Roan and Pauline work together to help, with the only word that came to mind, friend, it was something of inspiring.

When she saw Hector dive out and risk himself to help them, it was inspiring.

When she saw Justine run head first into the far better trained enemy's assault...it was damn sure inspiring.

But through all of this, she could damn sure do one thing with her talents.

"Pauline!" she called out to her comrade. Given that she had been busy with Micheal, Adrina had to step back to get to her. Without even giving her a chance to react to the shouting of her name, Adrina had grabbed her shoulder, running along side with her.

With but silent words, Adrina mouthed "Restituo Navitas".

If there was such a thing of fatigue for Pauline, it was gone. The soft glow that came from Adrina's hand crept its way quickly about her body, removing strain, ache and tire. Something kicked in Pauline's body as well. All the strain of what running she was doing seemed easier.

Adrenaline, endorphine, dopamine and more than that had been sent off in Pauline's body. If she was tired, she wasn't anymore.

Then Adrina looked toward Roan and back to Justine. Justine was further back and needed the help more after using her spell. If anything, it'd help keep the team togther.

Maybe, just maybe that Flare and Hector's plan would give her the time to help everyone.

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: New thread.