Geon Leventen: Well, I was having a really shitty day. Like really bad, awful, no good. First my head was on fire when I woke up—which sometimes happens if I had a bad dream–my shower was cold, there wasn’t any more food left in the house, and the campus had been blown to bits by my best friend’s…friend? Evay wasn’t really good at not keeping secrets which bugged me a little. I had told him about my life and my struggles but I didn’t know why he didn’t trust me enough to tell me his. It also made me worried since that meant he was hiding something. There were a lot of spies from different empires that wanted Taegan to fall—could Evay be…..No. Probably not. It did all check out though…Absurdly strong powers, secrets, no definite point of origin, but spies never got too far and probably wouldn’t in a school like this. Children also weren’t spies—well most of the time. Also, Evay was my friend. He couldn’t…

I summoned some wind to pick up a pile of debris and shoved it away to the side. The campus was in both good and bad shape. Some parts were unaffected but others were ruined. The students' bars were intact but the training range was shattered, the park was destroyed, and the campus offices were totaled. I looked at the damage and sighed. Why did we have to be the ones to do everything? I mean why was it always us? The trial, the crazy powers, this…What did we do to deserve this? Lila walked up to me and gave me a little pat on the arm. “Well…could’ve been worse.” She smiled softly and I felt better almost immediately.

“Yeah, probably could’ve been. Where’s Evay and Aurora?” Lila smirked a little.

“They’re together in the infirmary, alone, with no eyes on them. I wonder what they’re doing now.”

“Oh I know what they’re going to be doing.” Lila punched me in the arm and I laughed. She tried not to show her smile.

“Well, we got the plan for the tournament. We need some time to train but I think we have a good schedule. I think we deserve a little break, no?” I nodded furiously in agreement.

“Yeah, with everything that’s been happening. I agree.” We had done our part in cleaning up and most of the students were already leaving—leaving the cleaning to the staff and professors. It was difficult walking with Lila. She came up to about my chest and her legs were struggling to keep up with mine. Her curly dark hair bobbed on her head while I looked at her golden-colored eyes. She slipped her hand into mine and kept walking.

“And I think that this little break should give us some alone time, right?” I laughed and kept walking. I had a lot to think about, a lot of stuff to explore, a huge tournament, and my home had just been attacked. But it was strange really, at this moment everything was..at peace.

Savian Yelenta: “Hey Emmy! Emmy! I’m over here!”. I hollered at the small black haired girl with a white blouse and a huge straw hat who looked lost beyond belief. I suppressed a laugh. She was from the country and had probably never seen this many buildings in her life. The central Bondas district was full of beautiful buildings with brick laid streets that weaved in and out through the city. Its large marble towers blended well with the black roofed buildings that had their signature large overhangs. The market places were filled with life and wooden stalls selling all kinds of food and goods. Classes were off for the holidays so I thought it would be good for me to get out of campus for a while. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Emmy so I thought I could spend my free time with her. She looked a little panicked at the sight of the mass amounts of people around her and struggled through the crowd. She finally made it through and gave me a wave. “Savie! Hey! It’s been a while since we did this huh? Anyways, so many people! It’s a little scary.” She looked around in awe as crowds of people passed around us.

I smiled, “Hi. We should get out of here right now. Come on, there are some cool stores in the other parts of town I think you would like.” She smiled and we started walking. She was always so happy and lively, she skipped a little when she walked, and her eyes were always bright. Maybe it was because she wasn’t a warrior, but I liked to think that she was just like that. She came up to my abdomen when she stood next to me, but I struggled to keep up with her speedy pace. I laughed on the inside. Me, struggle with speed.

“Hey look! Chocolate stall!”. She marched up to the stall which had a kind looking old man behind it. He had gray hair and glasses, and wore a simple white robe. He smiled and watched as Emmy’s eyes scanned the chocolates in awe.

“Which one would you like to try?” She thought about it for a bit and finally pointed to a good and black box.

“That one looks good. Thank you!”. The old man handed her the chocolates and I looked at the price tag. The label read two gold coins. I did a double take and the price didn’t change. So it’s not brain damage from the fights…

The old man looked at me and looked like he was trying to suppress a laugh. I sighed and paid him. “Sir, that’s a lot for some chocolates—um, no offense—but you’re going to starve me at this rate.” He laughed softly and sat back down.

“Yes, yes, yes. But these are the best chocolates from the hillside in west Taegan. Their price is pretty justified and plus, the lady should be able to choose what she wants, no?” He smiled and I felt my face go a little red.

“Uh…well.” I looked at Emmy and she was already sampling the chocolates, her face lighting up with each new one she tasted. My heart began to melt and my mind told me that I loved her. I always had, ever since we were kids, but I had never had the guts to say that. I still loved her though, and I loved to see her happy. “Yeah I guess.” The old man gave a happy nod and I guided her away from the stalls and the more…expensive items, and we continued to explore.

“This one’s really good!” She was talking with mouthfuls of chocolate. “It has cherry jam in the center! Also, I think this is gold frosting.”

“Gold! Well that explains the price tag.” She laughed and punched my arm. When I looked down she looked a little guilty.

“Sorry, I should’ve asked you if it was okay to buy. I also brought some of my own money but it’s not much”. I immediately felt guilty and kicked myself mentally. You had to mention money..

My face softened. “No, it’s ok Emmy. I was never mad. Today, everything’s on me. It’s your first time back in the city after a while.” She looked at me and looked down with a soft grin.

“There you are, you big softie. So considerate, so Mr.Perfect.” I rolled my eyes but secretly, my heart did a somersault. I didn’t mess up too bad…not really. Emmy suddenly yelped and fell backwards. I saw her surprised face and her body tried to stabilize itself as she fell in slow motion. I immediately grabbed her and pulled her to my side. “You ok?” I looked frantically to see if she was hurt. Most of the chocolates in the box had scattered on the ground and before it stood a gang of men I hadn’t ever seen before. They all radiated troublesome energy. Each wore black vests and loose black pants so that they looked like they had just walked out of the night. The man in the middle who had knocked Emmy down wore a white bandana around his neck and his pants were gold instead of black. He had sharp eyes and spiky black hair and a menacing smile on his face. He had several scars on his arms, and there was a thin slash mark that ran horizontally along his lips—a scar that had healed.

“Sorry, pretty lady–here,” He threw a cold coin on the floor and kept grinning at Emmy. “Here’s this for compensation.” Emmy looked wary but she went to go pick it up. The gold coin suddenly burst into thin golden webs and latched around her wrists. They were so thin that they couldn’t be seen to the human eye. I could track their movement with my sped-up senses though, and I knew Emmy was bound. He looked at her with a malevolent smile. “Scream, struggle, see what happens. That right there is an exclusive item found on the underground market. Dulls liquor abilities, all the senses, and physical abilities as well. It drains your life force, so don’t struggle. Emmy already looked pale and sick. Sweat rolled down her face as she began to go limp.

I charged.

I stopped suddenly in front of the leader’s face and he lost his cool. His eyes showed fear and I knew he was done.

I ran and all of the other gang members froze. Their faces filled with terror and surprise–mixed with a desperate desire to run. I grabbed them one by one and ran over to a carpenter’s stall. The bench had a bunch of tools and wooden planks on it, but I grabbed the rope. I tied them all together and slammed them into the ground—a mass of six gang members, tied back to back. They hit the ground and I heard bones crunch and bodies hit the floor. The surrounding people gasped as they saw the unraveling scene, and the gang leader backed up slowly. He reached into his pockets and took out a deep blue blade. It had a black leather handle and it glowed a faint blue color. It looked like any regular knife but I could feel that it was different. Something was off about it…He spoke with a cautious tone. “You’re the kid right? The famous one, the speedster?” I looked at him and anger boiled inside me. He hurt Emmy, he tried to take her, he was the one who had knocked her to the ground. He deserved to die.

I grit my teeth, “Shut up.”

He rolled his eyes, “Great, the one we go for is guarded by you.” He sighed, “Oh well.” He thrust the knife forward and I immediately side stepped his strike. His entire body lunged forward in slow motion, and I hit him in the abdomen with a high-speed kick. His body rocketed through the air and the knife ended up at my feet. He slammed into a marble tower and crumpled as his body left a crack in its beautiful walls. I dashed over to Emmy who was still looking pale. “Hey, hey, hey, Emmy? Emmy are you ok? Stay with me.” She smiled weakly.

“Can’t move very well ... .Weird bracelet thingy.” I looked at the gold coin which still rested in the palm of her hand. No…..it had latched itself onto her hand and the coin was simply stuck. Crowds of people gathered around us and I started to panic. If this thing is a top item on the underground market, no one here would know how to deal with it. Emmy was getting worse and she was struggling to keep her eyes open. She looked like she was about to puke, but couldn’t because she also looked like she was about to faint. I looked around. No hospitals, no warriors, no doctors…

The school.

I picked Emmy up and let her legs dangle over my left arm as I supported her upper body with my right arm. “Emmy, I’m going to run. We need to get you to Eden, they’ll know how to help you.” She wasn’t responding–that couldn’t have been good…..

I parted through the crowd and ran, faster than I had ever run before.

Geon Leventen: I was taking a nice long stroll on campus to relax my mind when a streak of red lighting materialized into a person right in front of me.

“Geon, please. Help me.” Savian stood before me and looked more desperate than I had ever seen him. He was pleading with his eyes and I could tell he was trying to keep it together. I shook off my initial surprise and came to my senses.

“What happened to her?” Savian and I both got to the hospital and we walked up to the entrance.

“She got attacked by these gangsters and had a weird bracelet put on her. It’s sapping her energy, and she can’t handle any more high-speed travel so go.” He handed me the girl he had been carrying in his arms. She was really small and looked like a fairytale country girl, with her white blouse and straw hat. But she also looked similar to a noble princess with her fine face and delicate features. I nodded and flew her up to the hospital window. I rammed my shoulder into the glass and several surprised screams echoed out as I burst into the hospital hallway. “Sorry! Sorry! I’ll pay for that! I need help, please!” Several nurses came rushing out of the rooms and took the girl and put her on a bed. The rush of the situation was hard to follow but I saw the head doctor come into the room. He was the same one that had patched up Aurora after our sparring match before the year had started—he still looked as noble as ever.

“Report?”

“Trap device, sir. It seems to be sapping energy, we haven’t identified it yet. It seems like an illegal item.”

The doctor remained calm and walked up to the girl. He lifted her hand gently and his face changed. Only for a moment—but I could see it. He was filled with shock and confusion, just for one second—then it was gone. His face went back to his usual calm self and he reached into his pockets. He brought out a long, metal, needle-like object—except unlike a needle, it was the length of his entire forearm. He pressed the tip of the needle into the center of the coin and dug around for a bit—like he was trying to pick a lock. After a couple of seconds a small ping sound echoed throughout the room. The coin slowly slid down the hand of the girl and she started to breathe normally again. Everyone in the room seemed to exhale in relief and I almost forgot to breathe myself. I slowly backed away from the scene and went to go get Savian. I tuned and heard a large whoosh as Savian appeared in front of my face. Suddenly, Savian and Lila were standing in the hallway. Instantly, my face filled with confusion. Why was Lila here? What was she doing with Savian? Why is she with Savian? I don’t like that….

I kept my face cool but I tensed up a little when both of them approached me. “Savian, she’s ok. You’re late, and you brought Lila..” My voice was even but it had a cold tone to it. I gently put my arm around Lila’s shoulder and moved her to my side—away from Savian. She didn’t object but she patted my arms and looked at me with an, let me explain look. I softened my gaze and looked at Savian. His face seemed much calmer. He looked as if he had been holding his breath for an eternity and finally got the chance to breathe again. “She’s okay? That’s good. Really good.” He looked at me and Lila, and his eyes widened a bit, “Oh, no! No…not like that. I remembered Lila—was that your name? Yeah, I remembered that she could heal. So I thought if worse came to worse…you know. I wasn’t trying to do anything bad or like, ask her out. You guys are dating right?”

My face turned a little red and so did Lila’s. She spoke, “Um…no? Yes? No, yes! Kind of?”.

My heart dropped a little. “Kind of?” I spoke softly and her eyes went wide.

She spoke quickly, “Well yes! Um..officially now.” Savian smiled weakly.

“Funny,” he said softly. He pushed past us and went into the room with the girl. The nurses had left and normally this was against hospital policy but the girl had been admitted so recently that no one was here to shoo us off. He stood beside the girl lying in the bed and gently touched her fingers. She looked better. Color had come back into her face, and she looked like she was resting—peacefully. We walked up next to Savian and watched. Lila spoke first,

“Who is she?” She spoke gently and softly. She always had a way of navigating through sensitive situations—making everyone feel better—it was one of her greatest skills.

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Savian kept his eye on the girl as he spoke, “Her name’s Emmy. She’s a childhood friend of mine. We were exploring the city since she lives in the country and can’t visit a lot. She…well she got something put on her by gangsters, and she started to slip away.” His voice was awfully gentle. It was strange…Savian was a warrior. Maybe even the definition of one. He didn’t have time for feelings or love but it didn’t seem that way..I was seeing a different side of him.

Maybe the better side…

Lila put her hand on Emmy’s heart. Savian looked a little concerned but didn’t object. Lila concentrated for a while and then relaxed. She smiled and faced Savian. “She’s alright! She’s breathing well and blood is circulating normally, she’s going to be quite hungry and dehydrated when she wakes up though…She’ll make it. I can sense it. She’s strong, so I wouldn't worry too much.” Savian nodded and didn’t change his face, but I could tell he was grateful.

“Hey, you should thank her.” I spoke to him and he turned to face me. Lila looked concerned.

“Guys, don’t…don’t start,” Savian still had the same fiery red and orange hair. He still looked as good as ever—which annoyed me—and he still reminded me of the guy I had fought a couple days ago. It was hard to see him like this—worried and vulnerable—but it didn’t completely shake my original feelings about him. I remember what he had said to me, I remembered his attacks, he was the first person I had ever faced that I hadn’t completely beaten ... .It bugged me. You couldn’t just put us in the same room after fighting each other to the death and expect us to behave. Also I had a hard time buying it…Savian—a guy that looked and acted like a playboy extraordinaire, couldn’t possibly be this caring over some girl…I mean, she was probably great and all, but I didn’t buy it. He was still the guy I fought and the guy I needed to beat. I never admitted it but he did worry me..I had always beaten my opponent, but Savian was an exception—he was my first ever real threat.

I didn’t like that.

Savian’s face looked deadly and we stared each other down. He walked towards me until our noses were almost touching. “I didn’t know you spoke for other people Geon. Maybe you aren’t such an animal after all.” I snickered.

“Great one, never heard that one before.” He spoke,

“We never finished our fight, right? Maybe we should…I feel like it’s not healthy to keep these things in.”

“Yeah, good idea. Didn’t know you wanted to die in front of your girlfriend though.”

“Same.”

Sparks of red electricity flew off Savian's fingers, tiny explosions started to emit from my hands. The air around me began to swirl, and time began to flow like syrup. “Make your move.” Savian looked ready to strike at any second. The air thickened, the tension was palpable, violence loomed in the air. Lila stood and watched trying to separate us, but we weren’t moving. We were locked, deadest, determined to rip each other apart. I wanted to do it so bad, I wanted to beat him, he was mine to kill…Fire erupted along my right arm.

“You first.” I replied.

He scoffed, “Always scared to start anything, always needing a leader to lead…You're nothing but an attack dog, maybe a good one, but you’re just a mutt, your leader–Aurora’s mutt. A killing machine, just like his father.”

My heart exploded with rage and anger burned through my senses,“You think that that’s what I am? That’s funny, because you’re nothing but a failure. Insecure, always looking to please people, always paranoid of not being the best, doing anything to keep that number one spot. You’ll do anything for what you think is right, right? You’re nothing but a scumbag, one who couldn’t even protect his girlfriend.” His eyes contorted with hate and we both grabbed each other’s shirts. The electricity from Savian’s body smited a hospital bed and reduced it to ash. The ground started to crack at his feet and the ceiling was starting to chip away. My winds lifted up a bookshelf and a cabinet and flung them across the room. Lila quickly jumped over and caught the bookshelf, but the cabinet slammed into another hospital bed and shattered. The windows burst as my explosions echoed throughout the room, and the ground started to rumble at my feet. I lifted up my fist to strike when I heard a faint voice speak out,

“S—Savie….what…happened?” Savian’s expression changed in an instant. He went from having a murderous glare, to a look of instant concern in a second. All killing intent and power sapped from his body as he instantly went over to the head of Emmy’s bed. The tension dissipated and the feeling of an impending fight immediately disappeared, as we all went to go see how Emmy was doing. Lila tapped my arm and gave me an angry look. I suddenly felt embarrassed. Lila had done everything right, and I screwed it up. She was willing to help Savian and Emmy, but I got in the way. I was selfish, I was….well wrong. I wasn’t ready to admit this to Savian but I sure was going to make things right with Lila later. But for now, we had other things to worry about.

“I’m….I’m sorry.” Lila still looked angry but she relaxed a little. We both walked over and saw that Emmy had opened her eyes. They were black, very black. But also very bright. Her eyes still had the light that many warriors had lost long ago. She probably wasn’t too happy right now, but it was hard to imagine her ever feeling sad or down. For now, she looked a little confused.

“What….where are we?”

Savian spoke in a soothing voice, “We’re at my school, Emmy. This is the place I told you about, Eden. The head doctor got you treated. I think they should be back with other treatments soon. You’re okay.” Emmy looked at him and smiled. She cupped her hand around his and relaxed her body.

“Thanks, Savie, for saving my life…again.” Savian laughed softly.

Emmy looked at us with confusion, “Um, sorry, but I don’t think I know who you guys are.” Lila spoke first.

“Oh yeah, right. Um hi, my name is Lila and this is Geon.” She motioned in my direction. “You’ve probably heard about him though.”

She laughed and introduced herself. “I’m Emmy, and this isn’t how I would have liked to meet you guys, but well…here we are.” Lila laughed and I smiled a little.

She looked at me and spoke. “Yeah, I’ve heard about you….You’re quite famous you know that? Savian’s still the golden boy of the news outlets but I think you’re a close second…I remember you only competed in one tournament before Eden right? You got some publicity from that early on…I remember Savian didn’t like you because I had a crush on you when I was like, 10.” She giggled and Savian looked annoyed. I gave her a short laugh and I faced Savian. I gave him a mischievous grin and stuck my middle finger out of my pockets discreetly. He flicked a mini-electricity bolt at my pants and I flinched. Both the girls didn’t seem to notice. I glared at him and he smirked. I finally spoke, “Well, yeah I do remember some of my early days. My family history as you know is a little….complicated. So I didn’t like to be in the public eye a lot when I was younger, but I liked the idea of being a warrior. So I gave it a shot.” I smiled. It was a lot more complicated than that but I didn’t go there. It was messy, complicated, and no one would have liked to hear about it anyway…

“Yeah, well, fighting was never really for me. I just like art and making paintings. I can also be useful for finding out whether people are lying or not.” I felt my heart drop. She looked at me and for once she didn’t look so happy. She looked a little concerned and suspicious, like she had read my mind.

Savian spoke up. “Emmy can read emotions. That’s her liquor based ability. She’s gotten really good at it over the years–she’s helped me a lot.” She blushed a little and looked down at her hands. I felt a little relieved. She’s not going to push her suspicions now, right?

“What is going on here!” Several medical assistants and nurses entered the room. They looked both shocked and appalled at the mess we had made. Savian and I looked at each other and for once, had a look of mutual agreement. We have to get out of here before they find out.

“Um…sorry. We just tripped and kind of fell and some accidents happened, and yeah! There’s the story.” I smiled and started to inch towards the door.

“You know we know what happened right?” The nurses all looked at me and Savian.

Savain spoke. “Uh..yeah. Do we have to pay?”

“Yes.”

I shoved him angrily and he gave me a frustrated shrug. I sighed, “Shit.”

The nurses started to attend to Emmy and a couple started to clean the mess we had made. The head nurse came up to us and gave us both a good whack on the head with a folder.

“Hey, ow! What was that for?” I shouted and the nurse looked aggravated.

“For breaking our bookshelf and cabinet, and the expensive vase that sat near the bed!” Savian rubbed his head as I spoke to her once again.

“You hit surprisingly hard…” She crossed her arms and gave us a stern look. It was only then when I realized it. She looked young—way too young to be an adult. She was pretty and held herself in a very regal way. She had long dark brown hair, a proper and serious face with milky white skin, and dark brown eyes. She was one of our former classmates—Melissa of house Gen.

“Yes, glad to see you remember me Geon Leventen.” I instantly felt bad.

“Oh, no! Sorry, sorry, really. I just remembered. You went to go train to be a medical aid a couple weeks into the year. I remembered you were that one really smart girl in our class, but I just never saw you again so I had trouble recognizing you.” My voice sounded a little panicky but I gave a quick smile. Let’s hope I don’t anger one of the people that could potentially be responsible for our lives….that would be bad…

She sighed. “It’s ok. Who’s the girl?” She looked at Savian and he spoke.

“Um…friend.” Lila raised her eyebrows. Savian rolled his eyes, “A very good friend. Anyways, is she going to be out soon? She seems to be talking and stuff”. Melissa motioned for us to follow her out the door and we walked down the hospital halls as we talked.

“Yes, she seems to have come out of critical condition. She still has to recover though. Dehydration and fatigue along with questioning are in order.” Savian looked concerned.

“Questioning?”

Melissa opened up a door that led into a small office that had two men behind a desk. She nodded to them and looked at us. “It’s important to find out the roots to these attacks on our patients, and you are a good testimony. Goodbye, and Geon, Lila, good luck at the next tournament.” Savian scoffed and I smiled. But I had other reasons to smile. Standing behind the desk the man on the right was Professor Vylen, and the man on the left was a stranger. But one thing was sure, he radiated power. Whenever I walked into a room I could feel the people seemingly deflate at my presence. It didn’t feel too great, especially when they were just normal people. It was the same thing for Savain. People seemed to lessen, time began to flow slower, even now my steps seemed unusually sluggish. So when we both walked into a room, usually we were the only ones that were truly noticed.

But this guy….he was like us. He was dressed in a royal guard uniform—a red combat vest, embroidered with a golden dragon—the symbol of the emperor. Over his vest he wore a black cloak with bronze collars and hems. The royal guards…..they were the most feared warriors in all of Taegan–warriors personally selected by the emperor to be at his side. Lila seemed to notice the guard but she looked happy when she saw the Professor. “Professor! We haven’t seen you in forever!” The Professor gave a quick smile and nodded.

“Yes, I was incredibly proud to see you advance to the Championship. I haven’t had time to congratulate you yet but rest assured I watched every step.” I smiled and felt warm inside. The Professor had always treated us well. He taught us well, he guided us, and he was overall a good teacher. Never to lax, always pushing us to break our limits. We were essentially competing for him, and it felt good to make him happy. But his smile quickly faded. “Which is why I’m sorry that we had to meet like this.” He motioned for us to sit down and we did. Savian looked uncomfortable, which made sense. He was with us and our teacher. It wasn’t easy but he was hanging in there—not that I really cared. “This is Commander Hans. He’s a member of the royal guard here to ask and oversee some questions we have about the attackers of Emmilia Zuppen.” We looked at Savian. He looked irritated, mad, and surprised. I was concerned. If he attacked a royal guard…I wasn’t helping him.

He spoke in a controlled but clearly angry voice. “You know her full name…No one has called her that in years—for good reason too.” Professor Vylen raised his eyebrows.

“Savian of house Yelenta. You are an impressive warrior. Let me ask you, how long have you known Emmilia.”

“Emmy.”

“Fine, Emmy. How long?”

“Since we were five.”

“Do you know the people that attacked her?”

“No, or I wouldn’t be here right now.”

“You’ve critically injured all of the gang members. They are near death.”

“Great.” Savain didn’t back down.

Finally the Professor sighed and spoke. “These men are in a gang called the Dark Transport. We believe they are connected to a far larger association that exists for one reason. Slave trading and human trafficking.” Everyone fell silent. Slave trading? It wasn’t good to think about, no, it was impossible to think about. Emmy? Such a nice and sweet girl, to be traded as a slave? A person with hopes and dreams and lives and loved ones…It was a notion too terrible to think about..She had done nothing to deserve it..I looked at Savian. His knuckles were white from gripping his chair. His eyes were wide with shock and fury, electricity already buzzed along his body. He looked about ready to kill someone.

Lila spoke first. “Slave—slave trade? I thought our empire abolished that on its inception!” She looked horrified and nervous. She drummed her fingers along her thighs, just like every time she really didn’t want to hear bad news.

The Professor spoke. “Yes, it’s an illegal market. Many politicians and nobles have slaves that are tightly hidden from the public or presented as hired workers. They even have contracts to prove the “legality” of their “workers”, but these contracts are never honored. With the high court judges also owning slaves they turn a blind eye to these cases. It’s a mess really. It’s impossible to regulate or enforce the abolitionist laws.” Savian bolted upright.

“A mess!” His voice boomed with anger. “Yeah that’s for sure! Emmy was going to potentially be a slave and you guys are just going to sit here and tell me there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it?” He seethed in anger. “You, royal guard or whatever, isn’t this supposed to be your job to fix this shit? Where are you?” Savian’s eyes beamed with electricity. It looked as if he had mini, red, glowing suns in his eyes. The guard looked as calm as ever, and he spoke for the first time.,

“My boy, things aren’t so simple. This trade business also goes out to multiple empires. It is so large domestically and internationally that finding one weak point is very difficult. If we punish one group another one pops up and there’s no point. Impeding in foreign affairs is dangerous—we have to solve this issue with time.” His voice was deep and clear. He was about an inch shorter than me and Savian but he still had a greatly athletic and muscular build. He had a short, neat, military style haircut and his light brown hair looked royal and proper. He looked as strong as a mountain and his deep eyes shimmered with wisdom.

Savian still seemed agitated. “But we can try right? To catch them, to stop them? Right?”

“Yelenta it is not that—“

“MY GIRLFRIEND ALMOST DIED BY THEIR HANDS.” Electric sparks flew and blasted the table to ashes. A bolt hit Lila in the chest and she flew out of the window, which shattered. I flew out and caught her in another room. She had protected herself as her skin felt as hard as steel. She would live…I gently put her down as she passed in and out of conciseness.

Savian was still yelling in rage. “I’LL KILL YOU, I’LL KILL THEM. I’LL KILL EVERYSINGLE ONE OF YOU IF YOU DON’T TELL ME WHO DID IT!” The guard threw off his cape and it transformed into a huge golden, double edged sword. Professor Vylen glowed purple as he prepared to counter attack.

Savain was crashing out…..

“Savian! Calm down!” The Professor yelled to no avail.

He ran at the guard with blinding, time-altering, speed. The guard didn’t look at all worried though as he managed to block Savian’s punch with the flat of his blade. He whacked Savian backwards with the flat of his sword as Savian flew towards the Professor. The Professor teleported him away—causing him to fly straight into the wall. I felt Lila come up next to me looking dazed but fine. She nodded, “Together.”

The Professor teleported Savian right in front of us and he leapt to his feet. His face contorted with rage, his eyes pure red, his hair jagged like lighting. It wasn’t right…he felt so angry…in fact, I felt bad for him. I steadied myself and I thrust my hand up. Metal from the depths of the Earth responded to me as I encased Savian in a shell of Tungsten. Lila’s hair started to float as she jumped and put all her might into one big kick. Her leg swept through the air in a beautiful long arc and she hit Savian on the side of the chin, making his body go limp for one shining moment. I leapt over him and made the metal around him dissipate. I put my hand onto the back of his head and slammed his face into the ground. I willed the metal from the Earth to restrain him once again and a cocoon of metal encased his body. He was out cold, we had stopped him.

The royal guard came up to us and knelt down to examine Savian. “So much anger…I wonder if this has been repressed for a long time….We will never know I suppose.” His voice had a sorrowful tone to it as he gently grabbed Savian and scooped him up like a doll. “I will bring him to his dorm. He shouldn’t be too affected by this, he is a warrior after all.” He looked at us and nodded with approval.

“A kick that can knock out a warrior of his caliber….you are a truly powerful young lady. I wish you and Mr.Leventen luck at the International Youth Championships. I will get going. Professor, we shall meet again.” He knelt down to the ground on one knee and his cloak overshadowed his body and Savian’s. His cloak began to glow and a bright yellow light flashed before us as he disappeared into thin air.Lila looked awfully tired but managed to smile. “Not the way it was supposed to go, right?” The Professor smiled slightly and sighed.

“I didn’t expect him to work well with us. He just lost a big tournament, his close friend was just hospitalized, he was forced to call on Geon—his biggest rival—for help, and on top of that he was demanded to answer questions and was told Emmy could have been a slave. He’s had a rough day, but I didn’t expect this.” The Professor looked tired and concerned. “This gang isn’t the only problem on the rise. Lately there has been a lot of criminal activity and conflicts among nobles as well as other empires. I hope that the upcoming Championship matches will help ease tensions in the spirit of competition, but I am not sure…We are pressed..” I never realized how much the Professor had to take on. He wasn’t a member of the emperor’s elite anymore but he was still heavily involved with the inner workings of the Empire. He also had to teach us on top of that…I hadn’t ever really thought of him as a person. I thought he was invincible, never tired, never pressed…But I guess I was wrong.

Lila walked closer to him and she gave him a comforting smile. “You’re a very good teacher. We’ve never told you that..We’ve always felt that way but I think you ought to know. You’re doing a good job here, and you are the greatest warrior that we know. So I’m sure you can push through Professor, we’re sure you can figure something out.” The Professor smiled and he gave Lila a pat on the shoulder.

“Old men do not do good with kind words such as yours, Lila, but thank you. I’m sure you and Evay as well as Aurora will make our school and nation very proud. You are my students after all.” He gave us one last smile and he snapped away in a pop of purple light, leaving us alone. Me and Lila sat on a table and enjoyed the silence for a while. Our Professor had left us with his approval, and he was proud. We had to keep it up at the Championships, we had to do it for him. It felt good to have something to fight for other than ourselves–especially for a person you respected. It was only after my tranquil and sentimental thoughts that I truly noticed the big hole in the middle of Lila’s shirt. It was placed in a fortunate area…it didn’t reveal too much, which was good….But it was right between her….um…yeah. I felt my face go red and I pried my eyes away from her with all my willpower. I kept stopping my eyes from traveling towards her chest and focused on the floor. Wow the floor was looking very….floory today. Very…smooth….

Lila looked confused when she looked at me. “Hey what? What’s wrong? Is my hair really that messed up?”. She poked at my chest and looked up at me, “Hello? Earth to Geon…Geon what’s wrong?” I slowly looked at her and concentrated on her face.

“Um…shirt…shirt is a little…ripped.” She looked confused at first but then her eyes went wide with surprise. She looked down and immediately put both of her hands to her chest. Her face turned bright red and she looked away from my face. She turned her body away from me and I laughed a little.

“Lila, it’s ok. Wait um…I’m not saying show me—wait no! I didn’t mean it like that…I um…it’s ok to like, turn around. I won’t stare.” She inched back towards me and she was still heavily blushing. I pressed myself up against her and she wrapped her arms around my waist.

“How do I go out like this?” Her voice was small and full of embarrassment. I reached down and took off one of my socks. I ripped it into a square cloth and I gave it to her. “Here, cover it up. We can fix it once we get back to the dorm.” She took it and she put it to her chest. We walked out the doors of the hospital and we didn’t get too many weird looks going back. I watched as the orange, red, and golden leaves fell onto the ground as the sun lightly touched the Earth. We were on holiday, we were training, we were…happy. The next two months of the fall holiday would be the biggest we would get. Our tournament would be at the end of it and we would need to work until we dropped dead for the near foreseeable future. But I was happy. Walking back with Lila to the dorm, spending time with friends, being able to train, it was all a dream to me. To live like this. The moment was perfect.

Even if Lila’s shirt had a massive hole in it.