Neo was rudely awoken by some annoying mountain pounding on the door. Neo left the bed finding himself as stiff as a brick, he stretched as he moved towards the door, trying to get the knots out of his muscles. He opened the door to see said mountain, who's overbearing presence couldn't be ignored.

Neo looked down at the hands of Gie where he found a pile of neatly folded clothes. They were white with strips of grey running through it. With the school badge that had the golden embroidered treewith the dragon lying underneath the tree. Looking through the pile he found that there also seemed to be leather training gear.

A voice came from Bethany's room, "Good morning Neo, get changed into the training gear so you don't ruin your new uniform."

"How did you know my size?"

"I didn't, it was the headmaster. He is unique, to say the least."

With that said Neo didn't think he wanted to know why the headmaster could guess his size from just a look. Taking the clothes,he placed them on the bed and got changed into the training gear before heading back to the door. He opened it to find Gie still standing outside. Neo got curious, "Were you standing there all night?"

Gie just crossed his arms saying nothing, but Neo finished the rock’s statement, "'Yes I did, and I'm not happy about it, but somebody had to keep you in here.' Well, you don't have to. I don't even know where the local pub is or have any friends that I need to break the rules for.Nor any mystery to uncover… yet maybe there are hidden chambers somewhere in this academy."

After a little pestering, Gie finally moved. 'What's up with Gie?' Neo thought to look at the faceless head. 'Is it upset?... I haven't heard a word from him sincethen.' He thought back to when Elfin removed his face,'Does he need those pieces of rock to speak?'

Neo decided to ask Bethany who just shrugged, "He's never really been a talkative being, it's actually surprising that it's talked as much as he has. Maybe he’s gotten used to you, he shouldn't need those lips in order to speak."

It intrigued Neo enough that he almost didn't notice the chills he got as he stepped out into the corridor. Looking at the door to his right he found that he couldn't take his eye off it.

As Bethany started badgering him that they were going to be late, his eye remained glued to the door as he awkwardly walked backwards while staring at it.

It wasn't until Neo had lost sight of the door that he managed to turn away, but there was something in the building that still tugged at him.

The further they went away from the dorm, the more he could focus on the crowd that was surrounding the training ground. As he drew closer the beings at the back started separating, allowing them through. Whispers abounded and Neo soon realised that these students weren't here for extra training.

Many of the whisper he heard were mainly about Gie and Bethany. It surprised him that he only heard good things coming from the students about them and he realised that these two were pretty popular for some reason.

"So why are you two so well known?"

Bethany smiled, "Well for Gie, he’s a seasoned dragon slayer. As for me, I'm the female that got into combat classes and excelled at them. And I was the first to win the class tournaments and almost every other one until I left. Damn, I think they have a plaque somewhere in the academy about it."

"Ow, so your both famous?"

Bethany shrugged, "I wouldn't say that, only inside the academy. Outside I'm seen more like a rebel, which I'm quite happy to hold."

"Couldn't that cause problems in the future?"

Bethany nodded, "Possibly, but I think you have something a bit more present to worry about, like surviving till classes start."

As she finished her sentence Neo could see onto the sandy field and saw that Alec was taking things very seriously. He was topless, with only some leather shorts on, and in his hand was a recurve bow and a quiver full of arrows.

"Ah glad you could arrive on time, I was wondering if you'd return with such a big crowd watching. I won't be going easy on you today, unlike yesterday!"

Neo wondered where Alec had gotten all this bravado from. Was it the crowds getting to him, causing him to try and pump up and make a show of power?

"But first, let's see how you do with the bow," Alec said, pushing the bow toward him. He then pointed an arm toward an empty part of the field where there were 3 targets at a variety of ranges. "You have targets at thirty metres, fifty metres, and ninety metres. You have 24 arrows. Three each for round one, where you can take your time and get your eye in, but I'll still be assessing you, and then 5 arrows for each target as fast as possible."

Neo gulped a little, worried at the difficulty. He liked archery, but never worked with a ninety-metre range and never needed to fire rapidly. He always liked the smoothness of dragging the bowstring back to his cheek, taking a slow deep breath before releasing, and then rinse and repeat. It was quite a soothing experience.

Standing side on toward the target, Neo held out the bow with a slight bend his arm so that when he shoots the arrow the string won't catch his arm. He grabbed an arrow, nocked it, and drew the bow back. Aiming at the thirty-metre target, Neo released his breath, held in for a few moments, and released. The arrow shot from his bow, hitting the inner ring. He repeated the process, not thinking too long, otherwise his arms may tire.

After the thirty-metre target, he moved onto the fifty metre. Firing the three arrows, each hit roughly in the middle ring with a lucky one hitting the inner ring. Once Neo moved on to the ninety metre target his accuracy dropped dramatically and he only hit the target once.

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Although there were many people watching, there weren't any noises coming from them, which could be bad or good. He didn't want to look behind him to find out, he just wanted to disappear.

Neo asked Alec if the next part was all about speed, and when he got a nod Neo asked if he could get the arrows attached to his back. Getting another nod, Alec disappeared and returned a little while later witha quiver to attach to his back.

After he got the quiver comfortable, he took the same stance with his body side on. This time however, as he pulled the arrow out of the quiver he breathed in, and as he pulled the string back with the facing him he breathed out and let go while aiming roughly at the thirty-metre target. Even before the arrow had hit the target he was in the process of drawing the next arrowfrom his back. As the sound of handfuls of arrows left Neo’s bow the crowd stood watching. Fifteen arrows later, Neo stood, back a little sweaty and his arms tired. He observed his hand I work, which wasn't very good at all. He had scored three in the thirty-metre target, one in the fifty-metre target, and zero in the ninety metre target. He got close though. There was around of applause from the crowd.

Neo looked back, he was surprised that his poor attempt was being congratulated. "Well that was surprising. You were really impressive, you actually tried and you used your skills instead of your powers.I like it, very honourable," Alec said coming up beside Neo. "With a little training and practise you'd make a great archer. You did fairly well,but then any the new students that usuallycome indo too when they use their magic, apart from those Elves and Winged beings who pretty much grow up firing them."

Neo only hooked on to one phrasein that sentence, and that was ‘skills instead of your powers’. "Master Alec you mean I could have used my powers to do this?"

"Yes, of course."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"It usually goes without saying that you can use your powers. This is a magical academy and everyone is here trying to improve themselves, so it really does go without saying. They were also brought up being told to use it as much as possible, to build their strength. Anyway, you passed. How could I let such a physical student go to waste? I don't get nearly as much exercise and challenge since I left my clan, I hope you impress me with your hand-to-hand."

The back of Neo's neck shivered slightly as Alec moved to the centre of the training field, while the students flowed towards the edges of said field.

Alec pounded his fist into his hand, and Neo's body had goose bumps at the realisation that Alec might not hold back. Neo started to feel a rising pressure in his chest and a grin spread across his face as his excitement overcame his fear and he jumped up and down waiting for the go ahead.

"That's want I am looking for. That fire in you burns brightly, looking for battle and challenge. Bethany give us a countdown, on ‘go’ we start, understood?"

"Yes," Bethany replied.

"Yep," Neo then replied.

The crowd grew louder in excitement and anticipation, until the countdown started.

"Ok people on ‘go’ you start, three…two…one…go!"

Instantly Alec sprinted from across the field to get within arms distance in seconds. It was so fast that Neo just reacted to Alec's tackle by grabbing the back of his head and simply stepping back and pushing his head into the sandy surface. Then something hit him like a whip straight to the face. Blinking away the tears that welled up from getting something in his eyes, he changed direction, tilting Alec’s head away which was followed by his body. Neo managed to avoid getting grabbed by Alec’s hands and tried to make some space in order to get part of his sight back, but found something constricting around his leg which then pulled hard. Neo went with the pull stepping back into the reach of Alec, who was still facing away from him, but he was standing on all fours, much like how his lineage would have fought on all fours.

Alec released Neo and jumped forward before Neo could plant a kick between his tail and his back, hoping to make his tail useless. But Alec must haveseen it coming and moved out of the kicks way.

Neo was still blinking his one eye so that it would recover, while keeping his other eye on the lion in front of him, "That would have been very unpleasant, quite vicious of you to damage my tail."

Neo coughed a laugh and replied, "You don't hear me complaining about my eye.It hurts you know, so I had to try and return the favour."

"You mean I did return the favour as I don't enjoy eating dirt you know!"

"Well if you stop grabbing and come at me as you'll be eating it a lot of it!"

Alec growled and took Neo up on the offer as he moved in for a few jabs. Alec's claws were slicing the air a little too close for Neo’s comfort, but after finding that he didn't get anywhere trying to harm Neo, he drew back and pounced. Neo relaxed, straightened his leg, and rolled with the pounce. He planted his foot into Alec’s abdomen at a slight angle away to Neo's side, so if hefailed to keep Alecup there he wouldn't land straight on top of him.

Alec sailed over Neo he landed face first, eating more dirt just as promised. As Alec left Neo's control, Neo continued using his own momentum to roll backward into a standing position and pretty much jumped onto Alec while he was trying to get up onto all fours. Neo punched him in the side of the ribs. That opened up room in order to get one of his arms under Alec’s arms and over his head, which then gave him the other arm. Then Neo put tension on them, and Alec fell down, eating more dirt. Neo then positioned his leg to close his hips so that Alec couldn't twist and wiggle himself out.

There was one problem with Neo’s usage, he wasn't used to opponents that had a tail. It started thrashing about wildly, knocking Neo’s words from his mouth as he was about the gloat at his victory and ask about how earth tasted.

The tail beat on his back annoyingly. It came back toward his face and he opened his mouth and brought his teeth down onto the, apparently sensitive, body part as Alec cried out loud and the whole crowd cringed in empathy. Alec’s howl of pain changed volumes, into one of anger.

That's when Neo heard Bethany shout out loud, "Neo, get off him! He’s going to use magic!"

As she said it, Neo could feel Alec's body and the surrounding air quickly heating. The sweat on his brow dried rapidly and a trail of smoke rose from Alec's tail and body. Realisation dawned on Neo as to what was about to happen.

Neo pushed himself off Alec, ending up rolling away from him, after which Neo looked back to Alec and found what he expected, a flaming lion. 'Man, this cat has more than just claws, jeezz.' Neo thought before he took a closer look, finding that the only parts of Alec that weren't on fire were his claws and shorts, which really only gave him one area he could hit.

Alec growled, "Never bite a lion’s tail because it'll turn and bite back!"

"Not that I've seen any lions that could bite back," Neo vehemently replied.

Alec replied with a roar that shocked Neo and dried his skin. He tried to bear hug Neo, but Neo wasn't having any of it. He was thankful that he'd gotten the training gear, as he used the leather bracers while side stepping and going low, punching Alec in the hip. Alec bent over, offering a free punch that Neo took as he uppercut Alec, causing him to collapse.

Neo walked on like nothing had happened, but dived to the floor when he realised that his fist and arm were on fire. Rolling on the floor he eventually put it out and got back up. Checking on his opponent who was rising, Neo just grinned viscously and waited for Alec to rise. Alec glanced at Neo with anger in his eyes before taking a different stance which made Neo wearier. Alec lifted his arm up in a slash movement and his claw brightened into a flaming blue colour, which definitely gave Neo excited chills. Wait, that wasn’t him, the air around him had gotten colder and condensation gathered on his dry head.

It wasn't until Neo saw a shocked look on Alec's face that he glanced behind himself and found a huge wave rushing toward them. His mind blanked and he had no answer to that as it slapped him in the face. The water cooled off his blistered fists and arms, but he was flung onto the floor where he laid staring up into a mist that had formed. For the first time in the battle he felt fear, as he didn’t have an answer to deal with something that could have killed him. The fear was then replaced with anger.