My feet pound hard against the hard packed dirt beneath me. I can hear the rushing of air coming towards me. Still I am not fast enough to keep from its path, as the hefty sandbag impacts my side, sending me tumbling off the side of the raised dirt path. Landing in the soft grass beside it all. The large construct of an obstacle course looming to my side. A perilous thing with high walls to climb, traps to avoid and more so. The heavy sandbag tied to a thick rope dangling from a high wooden beam. Swinging back away from me, almost as it were taunting me. If such a thing could. My side aches from the impact. It’s been several months since coming here, still I haven’t been able to conquer it.
“You okay?” I hear a familiar voice call as her shadow begins to loom over me.
“I’m fine.” I retort back unable to really hide my disappointment as I look up to see Astra, hand on her knees looking over me. Although her name is really Astrida, we’ve come to know each other as she’s a part of my class here, so I’ve taken to calling her just Astra. She’s a Higan, one with giants blood. So as she looks me over, being just over a foot taller, though only a couple years older she had to bend quite low to get close. Her flowing orange-red hair tumbling down the side of her rosy colored cheeks and shoulder, pulled together in an elegant and complex braid with many purposefully loose strands decorated with several metal rings and flowers. The thick leather chest piece she wears over her thin cotton shirt leaving bear her toned arms, similarly her bare legs below her fur lined leather skirt alluded to not only is she much bigger than I am. She’s much stronger as well.
“Heh, you took the hit pretty well. You’ll get it eventually.” She said with a smile across her lips, her large round grey eyes beaming despite my failure. Offering her comparably large hand to help me up. “So, since you’re all done here, that means it’s lunchtime.” She says playfully as she pulls me to my feet effortlessly.
I toss my gaze towards the large building of light grey stone not so far in the distance, edges etched with black, white, and blue. Large banners of white and blue with the Aetherian symbol dangle from the balconies and rooftops. Statues of what were heroes of times passed line the cobbled pathway inward towards it. Some come and go, many others about the fields that surround the large solitary building amongst the wilderness beyond. This place has become my home, though I don’t look on it lovingly. Luckily enough, I’ve been able to keep my sanity by making friends with others who’ve become a part of my class such as Astra. That doesn’t go for everyone however.
Such as Emila. She’s next up behind me for the course, already she began while Astra was helping me. She’s about Pekkas age, nearly thirteen. Just being a normal human, she isn’t too much taller than me, but already she’s a lot quicker. I turn back for a moment to watch her. Elegantly she balances across the thin plank over the small pool made for the course. She’s much better at it than I am. Even with her long dark hair pulled back to a tail blowing in the wind and her thicker loose clothing shifting about with each step she takes. Her dark colored eyes filled with determination. She’s been made to be the leader of our class on days that weren’t simply endurance training. In charge of ensuring we’ll all together and so on. Yet, I don’t know why they picked her. She’s competent and elegant, but completely and utterly standoffish. She’s much harder to get along with than someone like Astra. I turn away from her as she ducks the same sandbag that struck me off, looking back towards the building.
“Yeah. I am pretty hungry.” I say, rubbing my side, trying to ease the soon to be bruise. Off to the west side of the building, smoke raising from the kitchens as many work hard to cook all the food necessary to feed all the classes here. Astra to my side as she keeps to my pace. Passing by as we do, a few rings in the field in which several classes have been put to work competing against one another. Two kids looking close to my age, clashing against one another with wooden weaponry. Clacking of blunt blade to shield, yelps of pain as a hit connects. Brogo, in loose bulky clothing looking on across the four roped circles nearby, ensuring fairness amongst the combatants. He flashes a quick smile as we catch one another’s eyes. I give a weak grin in response.
“I hope there’s plenty of capu meat today. Else, I may resort to eating their horses.” She utters out in a mischievous low tone. “That will teach them to not feed me properly.” A wicked smirk crosses her face as she leans to look over to me. I let a bit of a chuckle escape me, her attempt to cheer me up fairly successful a more genuine grin crosses my face to meet her. Her fingers running over her hair she picks a small twig from her locks, grasping it tightly, holding it before her, twirling it between her fingers. “Guess I got a little souvenir, besides a bruised butt from falling off the wall.” She says almost with a snort as her eyes glance up towards the clouds. Though she can power through the sandbags, jumping across small platforms, walking on the rolling logs, nothing gives her as much trouble as the high slanted wall. Still a bit of dirt stuck to the back of her legs from her unfortunate slide back down. I let out another chuckle.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Yeah, I bet you left a butt print there too. You fell so hard I swear I felt the ground shake.” I playfully retort back to her, a lout single ha blurts out from her mouth.
Ribbing each other back and forth as close in on the building, I catch a glimpse of Lydan coming out of the main entrance not so far away. He catches my look and glances over. Walking with him is a couple of his new friends and classmates. I can tell his eyes shift to Astra before he looks away. Ever since the incident in which Lydan came up to me after I fell into the pool on the balance challenge part of the course, he decided to mock me. I still remember how he told me that I need to work harder, to not be a disappointment. It made me angry, but I wasn’t alone there. After kicking a bit of the grass and dirt in my direction Astra struck his face, hard. I’ve never heard a sound quite like that. It must have nearly broken his jaw as he immediately stumbled to the ground and spat blood into the grass. His face was swollen for nearly two weeks, though he took it really well. He didn’t cry or scream out, he just looked up at her indignantly. I felt really vindicated as she helped me up. She was punished though, she was put into a detention room in the basement. I got to visit her on occasion. It’s really almost more like what I imagined a dungeon prison to be like, not that I’ve ever seen one.
I catch her as I look back, she noticed him as well. A smirk about her, must be thinking about the incident as well. Matching her gaze as it turns back upwards, I can see what she’s been looking at a group of large birds flying through the clouds somewhat off in the distance above the forests that surround the open fields. Delver birds, big and like to live in big underground dens. Their white feathers pristine and fluffy. Their tail feathers long and pretty tipped with bright colors. It’s not often you get to see them flying about. They mostly stay to the ground and trees. Astra even has a few of those feathers woven into her satchel that she keeps in her room. Sometimes capu, feral hog-like creatures with wild and curved horns, will drive them from their dens. I wonder if that's what drove them out into the sky, for a brief moment.
My gaze shifts again as I hear the sudden approach coming from the entrance to the dinning hall. My eyes meet those of Rilla. Her freshly clipped hair laying against her shoulders, falling gently over the spare clothes she’s gotten from the Atherian donations closet. A simple dress, that looks a generation older than her. Her small tender frame a heavy contrast to that of the large relentless wall of a woman that is Astra. She’s tried her best to put on a hard exterior since we’ve been here. Though when it’s just us, that exterior melts away to reveal she’s the same as she’s always been, a bit of crybaby. There are bruises here and there about her from the bits of skin that are visible. She hasn’t been doing well with much of the physical endurance tasks.
“Cain, Astra” She call in a hearty yet soft tone. Her hands falling to her lap clasped in one another as they usually are. Her soft demeanor standing firm as we approach.
“Hey!” Astra jovially responds her own grin brightening the air around her. “Guess what?” She says in a mock mysterious tone, as if some big secret was hiding just around the corner.
“Huh? What is it?” Rilla asks back, her head slightly tilted to the side, eyebrows raised questioningly.
“My butt ate dirt on the wall run today.” She smacks herself lightly, brushing off bits of loose dirt from her clothing. Rilla lets out a short quick laughing snort as she looks taken aback by Astra’s comment.
“You of all people? I can’t believe that.” Rilla looks over her, then to me. A new brightness to her face. I’m smile back to her, glad to see it. She’s been lamenting about how she doesn’t think she has what it takes to make it here. I know it’s been weighing on her.
Making our way inside as Astra still continues to talk playful nonsense, the smells of freshly cooked food fill the dinning hall. Long masterfully carved benches and tables, sharing the dragon motif, each with the etched Aetherian symbol, its several swoops creating deep groves where it’s etched. Astra departs leaving Rilla and I to find our seating amongst the crowds of other kids. There’s a lot of them. The day after we came here we were all assigned to our classes. Seeing everyone standing out in the fields. There must have been at least a hundred of us. So now, chatter of many different kids from many different backgrounds fills the wide room. The faint light of the high rising oil lamps with their curved bud like glasses encasing the dancing flames that illuminate my surroundings.
Picking a spot to ourselves, I rub my finger across the table etching feeling all the bumps and raises casually as we wait for Astra to return to us. As she does, carrying all three boxes of our food. Laying them out with a clack she doesn’t hesitate to pop the top off of her lunchbox, pulling the little lid rope and tossing the top aside.
“Good.” She says with a nod. Before I could even get the lid off mine, she spears the meat within the box atop her fork. Not hesitating to strike her prey and filling her mouth.
I strike a quick sigh as pick at the meat and apple slices before me. My mind wanders to what’s ahead. Our class is scheduled for sparring matches after our lunch and obstacle endurance training. I can do alright. But I worry for Rilla. I can't help but spend all my time eating thinking about what sort of class we will be put up against.