“What the hell happened to you?” Liam exclaimed, seeing the cuts and bruises littering Wren’s body.

Wren sat down across from his companion and let out a groan. His back had been bruised from being thrown against the floor and walls so many times.

“Nothing much, just had a job finding the toilet.” Wren replied.

“Looks like a whole lot more than that. Who did this to you?”

“Does it really matter?” Wren asked. He was tired, he just wanted to sit in quiet and let his body rest for the remainder of the journey.

“Yes it matters.” Liam said, he flexed his fists in anger. “Was it Chadwick?” He leant forward in his seat and fixed Wren with an intense stare. It was clear that Liam was bothered, but for some reason this irked Wren. He’d never had anyone get mad for him before, and he certainly didn’t need anyone to start now.

“What do you think?” Wren said. He turned to look out the window, avoiding Liam’s insistent gaze. “What do you care anyway? You don’t know me, we’re not friends. It’s not like you could do anything about it anyway. What are you gonna do? Go running to daddy? See what happens to me then.”

Wren turned back to Liam, only to be greeted with a face full of hurt, it was clear that his words had wounded the other boy. He felt guilty but what he said was true. If Liam was to get other people involved it would only make things worse for Wren. As the son of an A rank adventurer, Liam was basically untouchable, but the same protection was not extended to Wren; he was vulnerable and although he knew he had a big mouth, he wanted to avoid as much unwanted attention as possible.

Liam stood up and looked down at Wren’s bruised face.

“I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

He turned and walked away, disappearing down the corridor.

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Wren cursed.

~

The Ark had finally arrived.

It had moored up on the south side of the large sky island and the recruits had been escorted off of the ship. They were placed in a block formation that resembled that of an army roll call scene from one of those really old war movies.

The sky island that they had arrived on was by far the largest that they had seen so far. Even bigger than the island on which the recruits had arrived on. It was circular in shape and the vast majority of the island was covered in forest, with the exception being the large group of buildings located in the centre of the island, making up Ventus Academy.

Wren was grateful that he was placed in the back line of the recruits, it meant that he could blend in with the rest of the recruits. He could see Liam’s tall figure at the front of the group, standing upright and proud, a few spaces down from him was Chadwick. He wasn’t sure which of Liam and Chadwick were bigger, Chadwick might have the extra inch on Liam, but the former was a lot stockier and looked to be slightly stronger.

Stood in the clearing, surrounded by trees, the recruits were waiting for something to happen; they had received little information since attaining their abilities and journeying to a new planet and were very much eager to learn what would happen next.

It was then that a man emerged from the side and came to stand in front of the recruits.

Wren would recognise this man as one of the two instructors that had stumbled upon him in the wake of his beating.

“Good evening everyone, my name is Pascal Newman.” The man introduced himself. “I am the Director of the prestigious Ventus Academy and I would like to welcome you all. Myself and my colleagues will largely be responsible for you over the course of the next two years. It is here at Ventus Academy,” He gestured all around him at the island, “that you will be trained to fight both monsters and the Enoi.”

The group of recruits listened intently to what the man had to say, if he was the director of the academy for an entire faction then he surely had to be someone powerful.

“At this academy you will be trained in the use of your elemental abilities, martial arts, monster knowledge and also the use of armaments, it is not for the faint hearted. Now in a moment, one of my fellow instructors will take you to the main campus where you will be separated into dorms and be given your uniforms, after that you are free to explore the island.”

The group of recruits started muttering amongst themselves, eager to explore the large island, wondering what kind of secrets it held.

“A piece of advice though ladies and gentlemen.” Director Newman said conspiratorially, “Don’t go too close to the edge, we wouldn’t want you to fall off.”