Jason hadn’t slept well, a bit of an understatement really, he had hardly slept at all. Anxiety about accepting Justin's’ challenge had long settled after the cafeteria adrenaline had deserted him. Traitor, that one.

“Jason! Jason! Are you even listening to me?” Felix nudged him.Jason shook his head, cleared mental cobwebs and plastered his signature half smirk

“ of course I was! I was listened with rapt attention, processing all your intuitive suggestions. But uh… just to be sure, perhaps we should go over it again?” He finished, dubiously rubbing his ear.

“Right.” Felix rolled his eyes. “I’ll start from the beginning.” He took a deep breath panning his gaze along the arena that they stood in. It was oval-shaped as all things state were. Even the Emperor’s official portrait, present in all state establishment ( Including the shadow’s office) was Oval shaped. Talk of an egg obsessed country, am I right? Now that I think about it, I’m fairly confident over 40% of agricultural exports were eggs, egg related or worse, egg-shaped. It’s a concerning situation especially for our non-vegan brothers, but, I digress…

What I’m trying to say is, it was an egg shaped arena. They stood after the dugout, waiting for their first lesson, Combat 101.

“The man’s a legend!” Felix said, He had a faraway look on his face, his idolatry clear for everyone to see.

“Which man are we referring to again?” Jason asked

“Pay attention will you” Felix scowled. “I thought you said you were listening with rapt attention?” He said, mimicking Jason’s earlier tone.

Jason winced.

“Alright, alright, you got me. I wasn’t listening, but now I am. So, who are we talking about here?” He looked around the arena, they were still alone, their mates having not yet arrived. Felix had more or less half-dragged half-carried him from their shared room down to the arena, bouncing with excitement.

“Only the greatest combat instructor ever.” Felix giggled.

“Did you just giggle” Jason wondered incredulous.

“Yeah, what’s it to you? The man is amazing. I heard he is so quick, all his opponents see is a blur. And that he marks his defeated opponents by sitting on their heads and farting in their faces. It’s incredible!”

Jason rolled his eyes “Yeah right. More like incredibly gross. Those are probably just club rumours and nothing more. Farts on their heads? Sure.” he scoffed.

“He is right you know.” A feminine voice said from within the tunnel, startling Felix but not Jason, he had already been aware of her presence. Jason swiveled around to face the voice, Felix following a second later.

“Don’t sneak up on people like that Diana, you know it makes Felix jumpy.” he grinned.

Diana returned his grin with a brilliant smile. She pulled a loose lock of curly jet-black hair revealing coffee-brown eyes. Jason’s eyes traced her smooth ebony skin perfectly sculpted to a beautiful, strong yet slender body. Jason's eyes took all this in. It also avoided, with great effort I should say, falling on her profound bosom or resting too long on the slender curves that gave way to long elegant legs. Diana Etta Tabot was gorgeous. Jason could appreciate that, He wasn’t blind, but that was where the attraction ended for him.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Felix on the other hand, well let’s just say he behaved like an absolute buffoon whenever she was around. There are those who argued, Jason included, that he behaved like a buffoon regardless of time and personage, but that’s another matter altogether.

“I.. uhhh, I wasn’t scared, mildly surprised is all.” Felix stuttered, right on time to prove my point.

“Yeah right.” Jason and Diana droned together

“Truly, I really wasn’t” Felix cried, desperate to save face in front of Diana. She promptly ignored him.

Felix struggled for more words to express himself, but they failed him. Perhaps he would have succeeded but it wasn’t to be. Several other second years began trouping into the arena, stealing Felix’s chance of a come back.

“Here come the others.” Diana said. She waved at two other girls in the crowd who smiled and waved back.

“ I’ll be off then. Jason, see you during class” And with that she hopped off to join the other girls. No words for Felix, ouch!

“I messed up again” Felix cried, his shoulders dropping.

‘Yeah, you did” Jason threw an arm over Felix’s shoulder. “Its okay, we all mess up in front of beautiful girls we like. You’ll do better when we talk to her later” He squished Felix’s shoulder reassuringly. Felix nodded in response.

“Yeah, I will.” Big fat lie that was.

*************************************

Muttering rose all around Jason. He looked to see what had caused the disturbance. Soon enough, he found it. There was a beggar, or at least what resembled one in the arena. He appeared to be asleep in a couple of chairs on the upper north stand. Nasty crumps of whatever meal he had eaten, stuck out of his grisly beard. They’d all been too busy chatting to notice him.

His eyes flickered open, and there was silence. He stood up, adjusted his bedraggled clothing over a profound belly, brushed past several students who had started towards him and swaggered down to the center of the arena. He stood still, quietly stroking the grey streaks on his mightily overgrown chin.

Jason frowned, accessing the one in front of him. Despite his mangled looks, Jason was weary of him. There was something unsettling about the intensity of his dark brown eyes. This man was dangerous, he was no beggar. His posture, while seeming casual was a mask for a supremely alert body. Jason continued to stare, and for a brief yet meaningful moment, their gazes met. Jason shuddered unconsciously looking away and the moment was gone. The strange man swept through the arena, assessing. Jason found everyone as spell bound as himself.

Felix spotted a frown on his face, having probably figured out who was in front of them, just like Jason. Diana looked extremely nervous and even prick-face Justin and his gang of idiots did not seem so sure of themselves, served them right.

The man cleared his throat, rather ominously I might add. Drama Queen, this one.

“For those of you who are not aware of who I am, let me introduce myself.” his gruff voice carried across the arena though he had not been much loader that a whisper.

“My enemies call me the end, because I end them. My friends call me the Flash because there’s none quicker. Those who give me orders call me a loose cannon because… well you get the meaning.” Dramatic pause “ But you my dear unfortunates have the misfortune of calling me Professor. You better run while you still can, because I am your worst nightmare, only I’m as real as it gets.” His eyes narrowed , his gaze swept across the many anxious and unsurprisingly gleeful_ for Felix_ faces of the students.

Those who were not afraid were now well into the scared territory.