Chapter Four

Ember was the last one to get back to the starting point. She came with nothing in her hands and no armour in sight. The others began to laugh. She spent all that time out there, and to come back with nothing? They never paid attention to her, so they didn’t notice the new accessories she picked up. Of course, the adults did. They knew the only reason someone would come back with nothing is that they had found something. A valuable something. They were terrified because the last time someone came out like that was…. Was the last potential, and she turned dark. They were worried, they knew what game Nimue was trying to play, and if she was a potential, this could turn out worse than the last war.

Ember moved through the crowd and went onto one of the ships. She sat down at the table, and summoned three daggers from the necklace, looking them over. Each of them had various enchantments on them, including poison, and paralysis. One was also a curse, a power that made anyone that got hit by it take excessive amounts of internal damage for a long period of time. Not many survived, especially since it was increasingly distracting while fighting a foe since you could feel it affect your mind as well. Ember was quite satisfied with what she had found and decided to practice a bit after.

Ember was in the training area, with her bow and swords. She had convinced her teacher to spar with her, to get a test of her weapons. She didn’t have her armour since she decided not to reveal it quite yet. In her bout, she realized that the swords had a little trick to them as well. If she pushed them together, they would form a greatsword, that was heavy but had quite a punch to it. She would often at the beginning of a fight start with a greatsword and then split them. When she got distance, she would use her bow and daggers. The daggers would always miss, but they did have another effect. Every surface they hit would become infected, and if you walked into it, your feet would sink. This worked in her favour because she could surround her teacher with those spots, and use her bow after. Within a few hours, their match was done, and Ember barely won. They were both breathing hard, but Ember was happy with her results.

When she got back to her room, she passed her mirror and paused to look at the dragon, now painted across her arm. When she focused and put mana into it, It would begin to move up and down her arm, changing colours. She decided that if she weren’t to wear her armour, she must always wear her jacket, since it was on the same arm that didn’t have a sleeve, and no one knew about the markings yet. She decided not to tell anyone, especially not after what she figured out. She didn't know if she could trust anyone for now.

"We are going to start your first hunt today. Each of you has a lead and will be catching an animal to ride on future hunts. You will be given a bag full of different foods for the creature you will tame, and if there is not a food to match up with your rider, and it is not tamed, you will be told to let it go and choose a new pet. Is all of this clear?" An expert had come to their school to help them tame an animal to ride to the locations of the hunt. Ember would be able to stay behind because she had hers already, but she didn’t want to reveal that quite yet. She would wait until everyone had one of their own. One of the tamer's apprentices was giving everyone a bag for the food, and as soon as they got it, they took off into the trees.

Ember was one of the first to leave and quickly left for the cliff inside the forest. She was jumping from tree to tree, to ensure that she did not disturb any of the creatures of the forest. She soon reached the cliff, overlooking the sea, with a large island near the beach a few miles away. On the island was damp ruins. There used to be a town on the island, but a few months ago, a leviathan attacked the village, and they were forced to evacuate, and the bridge to the island was destroyed, causing many people to die. It reminded her of her town, but a place that can be restored, and saved from complete destruction.

She began to get up when she heard laughter behind her. Her finger brushed against her watch, then she summoned her swords from her necklace. As she turned around, the rift opened, and Nadred stepped out. They stood facing Sorrell and two other students. They stood the wide-eyed, as Ember reopened Nadred’s rift, and he walked back, them making eye contact. Ember nodded. She turned back to her classmates and pulled up her hood, and at the same time put her swords back into her necklace. She walked past her classmates, bumping against Sorrell’s shoulder. He grabbed her shoulder. “Where did you get that one Ember? Or did you just get that from your mommy?” He snickered. The others began to laugh.

“I got him myself. It was my talent and abilities that got me him. Oh wait, you don’t know what that is, because your parents practically bought it for you.” She said, facing them. Her arms were crossed and she heard a twig snap behind her. Each of their animals was surrounding her. She smiled at their growling. Two black wolves, and a Fae tiger. Nothing scary. She turned on her heel and took one step, when all three animals pounced, and fell to the ground, as she flickered out of existence and appeared among the trees. She was facing towards them, her arms crossed. Then she turned on her heel and walked towards the camp, her classmates noticing only at the last second as she disappeared into the trees.

The clearing where they had begun was full of beasts magical and non-magical alike. Many of the creatures were wolves or horses, though there were a few magical ones and a Fae tiger that belonged to Sorrel. Everyone was bragging to one another about how amazing their creature was, all except for Ember. She was under a tree, reading a book.

“Now now, everyone settle down!” Came from their instructor. “I understand all of you are excited to finally have your hunting animals, but you must not get carried away. Before we head back to Nabarmena, each of you will be giving your animals a collar. Your collar will link the animal to a bracelet you will be given so that they will not leave your side, and will stay with you till death. Now, everyone line up!” Each person was given a leather collar to put on their animal. The only person to not stand up was Ember.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Where is your animal Ember? It is required, and if you returned without one, you will be punished, and you will struggle in other hunts.” The instructor said annoyed. Ember looked up from her book, annoyed herself. She tapped her watch, and everyone turned to the tear that seemed to appear next to her. Nadred stepped out, growling. She put her hand out and scratched behind his horns. He looked towards her and sent a message directly to her mind. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to bite one?’ He asked.

‘Yes,’ She responded. Everyone looked at her traumatized and surprised. “I don’t think that is necessary. After all, I already have mine.” She said annoyed. She Jumped onto Nadred’s back “I’ll meet you back at the school.” She said coldly, glaring at her classmates. Nadred took off into the sky, and they flew off.

Minutes before the class broke through the treeline, Nadred landed on the ground. “They are jerks. I see why you hate them. Though luckily you don’t have to endure all your classes with them. Won’t you be doing magic with the Ninth years? You will also be doing sparring with the guard. Neither of those you have to do with idiots.” He said.

“True, Though I still have to deal with them in my other classes too. I will also have to deal with them when we go to visit the light kingdom. Luckily only the three of them, but they are the ones that are incompetent in everything except for sparring, and also have powerful family members.” Ember spat.

“Ooh! You guys are going to the light kingdom? You will be able to apply to a guild then. They will hold a position for you now, and then you will have a higher chance of getting in at the tournament.” Nadred said slyly.

“That is surprisingly a really good idea.” Ember sarcastically said.

“Jerk.” He whispered as Ember opened his rift as the main gate opened for her. She walked through and the first of her classmates entered the clearing. Them seeing her back as she walked, the gates closing behind her.

Ember was walking to the guard’s barracks for her first training course with the new guards coming in from the west and the Light Kingdom. She opened the door to the barracks, and there were ten people, that didn’t look much older than herself. Many were sparring or chatting amongst themselves. She heard the door open behind her once again, and she saw the captain of the guard walk through. “It is good to see you joined us today Ember.” She said cheerfully.

“It is a pleasure to be here.” She responded, smiling. Her arm brushed her leg, activating an enchantment that gave her the ability to sense everything around her. She finally had a reason to try it out, to make sure it worked.

“Listen up everyone. We are going to have a few matches between each other to see what level everyone is at, and then we can work from there.” Everyone nodded in unison and began to strap on their armour. Ember decided to stand in a corner where no one could see her well. Not like anyone was paying attention to her anyway. She summoned her armour pendant and put it to her chest. Soon her black armour appeared on her, and she disappeared into the shadows, only a few glints of silver visible to suggest anything was there.

She then closed her eyes and waited. Soon after, she felt something floating above her, and her eyes flashed open, but she saw nothing there. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, not knowing what she had sensed there. She shook it off and steadied her breathing. Then she looked up as the captain began to speak. “If everyone is ready, I believe we can begin pairing everyone up.” She looked to Ember, and she nodded in response. “Ember will be with Lydia, Coren is with Kaydie….” This went on for the next few minutes as the captain paired everyone up.

Ember’s partner, Lydia, began to walk to the wall at the other side of the room, and Ember lined up with her on her side. She forced her swords into her hands through the necklace as her partner picked up her own. “3…..2…..1….. GO!!!!!!” Rang out from the crowd. Both girl’s legs pushed off the ground as they launched themselves at each other. There was a brief moment when Ember was in the air but pushed her weight down into a roll as she pivoted and slashed at Lydia’s back. It barely grazed her side as she tried to dodge the attack, but Ember used her momentum from the attack and she used her leg to trip her opponent and stopped in a crouch.

Then, using her weight and momentum, Lydia pushed herself back up to a standing position as Ember rose. “Your better than I thought you would be,” Lydia said, her green eyes boring into Ember’s.

Ember responded, “Maybe you shouldn’t underestimate your opponents because of what they look like”

“Go Ember!!!!!” The three spirits were cheering on Ember from the side.

“That Lydia isn’t half bad,” Adrielle said.

“Seriously? She is nothing. Look at Ember's eyes. She is testing her, to try to push her limit.” Nova responded.

“If that is true, she really is as good as we thought she was. Though we have to start becoming careful. She did sense us earlier. Hopefully, we will be able to hold out for a little while longer. I still think it might be a bit dangerous to speak to her right now.” Halo worried.

“If we do have to speak to her, I will be the one to do it first. It might be dangerous otherwise.” Nova said

“I agree. We don’t want it to be repeated after all.” Adrielle said, soon after realizing the battle was over. It seemed that Ember had won the battle, and was walking back to the edge of the room, and out of the way. The next two fighters were now lined up across from each other, and Ember was watching them as well, to know what she might have to fight against in future training sessions.