The armoury was packed. Wall to wall, every inch of it was filled with weapons. Some the likes of which Wren had never seen before. He’d thought that with two classes having already been and gone, both containing forty or more students, that there would be hardly any weapons left to choose from. But in fact it was quite the opposite. They’d barely scratched the surface. If each recruit took three weapons, then there would still be enough left for a small army. He shouldn’t have been surprised though. They were in the middle of a war, with both the Enoi and monsters so it was kind of a necessity to have a good supply of arms. He just hadn’t expected the supply to be so large.

He moved over to the wall that contained the swords. It was everyone’s first instinct. When you thought about a weapon, you thought about swords. They were arguably the most simple and versatile of weapons as they were quite easy to use; all you had to do was stick them with the pointy end after all. There were many kinds of swords scattered all across the wall, short swords, great swords, katana’s, rapiers, scimitars, even a bastard sword. Wren had no clue why he knew it was called a bastard sword or why it was even called a bastard sword but he recognised it all the same. The great swords like the one that Liam had been carrying looked too heavy for him, his build was slight and he didn’t pack much muscle so he figured he would need something to compliment that. He picked up a short sword and gave it a few swings, feeling its weight and balance. He didn’t really know what he was looking for, he’d never held a sword in his life, but he figured that he’d know when he had the right weapon.

He found it to be just a bit too heavy for him. He would be able to use it if he really tried, but he knew that he would just find himself getting tired way more quickly than he should. Instead he picked up the rapier, figuring that it was on the other end of the scale and would definitely be light enough for him to use. But after a few practice swings he put it down for a couple of reasons, for one he found it too flimsy, he could imagine it snapping in the middle of a fight and where would that leave him? Dead, that’s where. The second reason was that he just really didn’t like how it looked. Sure picking out a weapon that was best suited to you was important, but he also wanted to look cool while doing it. What was the point in being a super rare being with crazy magical powers if you looked stupid swinging about a stick in the middle of a fight?

He was running out of time, he’d spent almost five minutes looking at those two swords and he was lost. He looked to the other walls, one held long ranged weapons like bows and crossbows he probably wouldn’t have much trouble using them but he wasn’t sure about his accuracy, and besides, it wasn’t really his style. Another of the walls held heavy weaponry like hammers, maces and axes, he definitely would not be going anywhere near them. If he thought that the short sword was a bit too heavy for him then he would have no chance with an axe that looked to weigh three quarters of his body weight.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You have five minutes left to pick a weapon.” Ash called out. “If any of you are struggling to pick a weapon, I would recommend a spear for this lesson. My weapon of choice is a spear so you will get the most out of this lesson by picking that.”

While the recruits had been walking about trying different weapons, she had been in the middle of the room studying them all. Some of the recruits instinctively knew what weapons they wanted. Having had some sort of previous training, all of the Legacies in the class went straight for their weapons of choice and milled about by the door waiting for everyone else to pick. Like Chadwick, some of the Legacies had brought weapons from home but the academy had stipulated that they had to be kept in the armoury when not used for lessons. Either way it made Ash’s job a whole lot easier. She wouldn’t have to worry so much about the Legacies and could instead focus instead on the recruits who were more inexperienced.

In response to her words, many of the recruits, including Wren, flocked to the wall of spears. They picked them up one after another feeling their weight. There were spears of all sizes as recruits were all of different heights. Wren picked up one of the smaller spears as he figured it would be easier to use. It had a nice balance to it, not too light like the rapier had been, but not too heavy that he wouldn’t be able to lift it.

Although it was well balanced and would do the job, the spear was nothing to write home about. There was no fancy design, it just a solid wooden pole with the spear tip melded onto the end. It was worn and faded from years of use and while the tip seemed sharp, it didn’t have the razor edge that Chadwick’s seemed to have; it was even chipped in places. Clearly the spear had been through a lot.

He didn’t have many other options though. There weren’t many other spears suitable for his size and they were rapidly being taken the girls in his class. He hated being short.

It would have to do though. Time was almost up and if he didn’t like it he would be able to change it out for something else in another lesson.

“That’s time people.” Ash told them.

Wren made his way over to the door where the Legacies had been hanging around. His was eager to start the lesson.