Winter had turned to spring had turned to summer had turned to fall. The thoughts and concerns had slowly diminished, replaced with the fear and anxiety of beginning another school year. Although Luke had grown more and more comfortable with new school years, moving up to the secondary school had kicked his comfort stool out from under him.

“Welcome to your first year of secondary or middle school. Whichever you prefer, I don’t care. Regardless of whether your education ends here or you move on to labor school, you must learn how to work in a team. I will assign teams, you will get to know these people over the next 3 years, we will go through some exercises, and then you can go home.”

It was a surreal thought to be able to leave school and not come back until much later; however, he wasn’t going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Soon his mind drifted to the other unavoidable change: the class room consisted of a circular platform surrounded by a dirt moat. The “seats” were wooden benches dotted around the wall.

When the teacher yelled out several names, a familiar sense of dread hooked itself into Luke. Watching the teams assemble, he took a breath in anticipation.

“David, Maple, Susan, Connor,” Luke could feel himself suffocating despite exhaling five minutes ago, “Luke.”

Following the steps of previous groups, Luke walked alongside four people who were as displeased as he was.

“Wow, it’s like the universe couldn’t find anyone else to stick us with. It must be destiny.” The red head rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, so not only am I stuck with that loser,” Maple pointed to Luke, “I have to listen to the sarcastic ginger.”

“And we’re stuck with this big-mouthed bitch.”

Maple was about to pounce on the red-head until the teacher held her back.

“No killing each other, no matter how justified you may be. Intentional treachery will result in immediate expulsion. Do I make myself clear?!”

The sour brunette relented, reluctantly joining the group as they stood in a cluster.

“Alright kids, now that you’re all in groups, get to know one another, establish who will be a leader, who will be the strategist, fighters, healers, and otherwise.”

The group had turned their attention toward one target.

“I guess we should get this out of the way: what are you going to do, Luke?” The blonde seemed cold yet not antagonistic when asking the question. “You can’t fight, so I guess you’ll be the strategist?”

Luke nodded without thinking, realizing too late he knew nothing about strategy. As the others established their roles, the boy looked up to the ceiling, just wanting the day to end. Before long, he got his wish, as everyone was dismissed after the roll call.

Though he wanted to meet the princess, Luke knew it would be in his best interest to pull out one of the dusty books with helpful information he’d never normally bat an eye. As he arrived home, he was surprised to see his mother sitting by herself, sipping tea.

“You look tense. I’m curious -not concerned- about why.”

“I was put on a team today and they want me to be the strategist. I don’t know anything about strategy.”

“You’ll be the leader then.”

Luke tilted his head at the woman, unsure of how she reached that conclusion.

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“Well no, I think someone else will be the leader. I can’t be a leader, I can’t even make strategies!”

“If you’re fighting a war, a leader and a strategist are two distinctly different roles. You are not in a war, you are in a class of rag tag children all working to become fine warriors. Therefore, there is no difference between leading and being a strategist.”

The son paused for a moment before changing the subject.

“You were in a team, weren’t you? What were they like?”

“My team?” The woman cleared her throat hastily. “Well, there were five us, as you might expect. There was me, Johnathan, Shelly, Vanilla, and Charlie.”

“The queen?! And…Charlie?”

“Yes. Vanilla used to be a peasant, but through luck and my persistence, mostly my persistence, she married into royalty. As for Charlie, he went by the title of The Blazing Phoenix.”

“Wow, and what about you and aunt Shelly?”

“Your aunt and I were the strongest cavaliers in the world. When Lumina fought the last war against Umbro, we were the force that ended it. In a clash of five hundred, we took out all but fifty.”

“Are you still the strongest cavalier?”

“Unfortunately, I made the mistake of raising a family, so no. Your loner aunt took that title for herself. But, I don’t envy her; she lives in a small, backwards village.”

“Where’s Charlie?”

“Asking the smart questions I see. Unfortunately, nobody knows. We fell out of contact a long, long time ago, when he also decided to have a family. The moral of this story is, don’t have a family Luke, it will only ruin you…or ruin you further in your case.”

“Yeah yeah, I know, leave the princess alone.”

“Not even that. For as much I don’t understand Vanilla’s decision to allow you to live with the princess, I also want what’s best for you.”

“No you don’t!”

“Of course I do. I don’t want you to be burdened by a family, especially not one of royalty. I see now that fear won’t dissuade you, so maybe honesty and personal experience will.”

“This whole time you’ve just been trying to scare me?”

“Not necessarily. I’ve been trying to get you to grow a spine. Stand up for yourself. Don’t let other people take advantage of you…unlike your mother.”

The room fell silent, Luke wanting to say something, but he couldn’t find the words. After a minute of staring at his mother, and her staring back, he finally withdrew into his room when he remembered why he came home.

A month had passed of the teams practicing their coordination against helpless monsters, their claws, talons, teeth, and other sharp extremities were removed.

“Today your team will go against a real monster. This will be the first half of your semester. As soon as you can prove your team can handle a monster, you can go home until after winter. If you want to be one of those people, you better get your shit together now.”

When the time came, Luke’s team at stepped on to the arena. On the opposite side were cages, some empty from previous fights. Corpses of Hellion Scorpions littered the back of the room.

“Time to put our training to good use! You guys excited?” Connor announced to his team while floating in the air.

“Of course! I can’t wait to kick some ass.” David unsheathed his sword.

“I’ll show those losers what a real mage looks like.” Maple pulled out a staff with a blue gem at the end.

“Let’s get this over with.” Susan mumbled, dragging a whip of vines and thorns behind her.

As the four turned their heads toward Luke, he signaled to the teacher to release the monster that hid within one of many cages.

“Just like we practiced!”

As the monster approached the group, the five scattered, the girls and Conner taking the left while David and Luke moved to the scorpion’s right. David jumped at the beast, attempting to strike it with his sword, but its tail had forced him back. Keeping close, the blonde had dodged several more strikes before stomping on the arena, causing the concrete to shoot up, bend, and encase the stinger.

The creature swung its body to strike with its pincers, but a violent gust had caused a tsunami of seeds to cake the beast before a massive block of water slammed down on it. Dazed and confused, the beast struggled to free its tail from its earthy prison, all the while swinging its claws hysterically. Soon, grass and flowers began to grow all over the hellion, forcing it to slow down. As the plants continued growing, they penetrated the arachnid’s exoskeleton, slowing it further until it stopped completely.

Once the teacher had walked up to monster corpse, he congratulated the team before taking the cadaver back to the pile of cages occupied by similar carcasses. With their signal to leave, the group marched out of the building with their heads held high.

“Worked liked a charm!”

“Yeah, I actually don’t regret being in this team. It was…fun.”

Luke smiled at David’s enthusiasm and Susan’s compliment as they parted from the group.

“Don’t get a big head Baronia. We only did as well as we did because of practice and the fact that we, not you, we are actually competent. Even the ginger.”

“Eh, don’t let her get to you man,” Connor patted Luke on the shoulder, “what she really meant was that you did well.”

The leader watched as his other two comrades scattered to parts unknown.

“See you guys later then…”