strike of balance(c1)

In the early days of 15th centaury when magic’s such as Witch craft/ wizardry (known as dark magic), holy magic and elemental magic’s existed was a major war. The land, sky and underground was split, the sky was the home to the so called ‘angels’, the underground was ruled by the ‘demons’ and the land was populated with the people which are called ‘freedom fighters’ and other species.. The demons were always greedy and wanted this land to get one step closer to the sky also and so they constantly invade. The angels, who did not want the demons any closer, also trespass into the land to protect them and also themselves.

Tomorrow was the day we all hate, the first day of school, but this is no ordinary school, it's a freedom fighting school, a school which anyone can go to, not to learn how to read and write, but to learn the arts of weapon masteries and magic chants. Everyone from ages 16 were allowed to enter this school. It is not a dark and gloomy school like every other one. It was built of big white gravel bricks, tons of it, piled upon each other. The school was a rectangle built of these white bricks. In front of this school was a little rectangle garden, full of grass and other little colourful flowers. Surrounding this school was a thick wall which was also built of these white bricks. There was a way in which you could enter this wall to the top where the view is blocked by the tall trees, surrounding the school. There were four exits to the school: north, east, south and west. The school was built near the cliff side, this was so then students could take flying lessons on their summons. This school was the best because it contains all the materials and land for teaching. The other thing the school is well known for is because they teach ‘elites’. These are people which have extra special powers otherwise some kind of artefact which helps them achieve this kind of power.

Drake was a young boy, age of 16. He is a young prince of this country, the country known as ‘Celsia’. He is called an elite. This is because his father, the king was also an elite. During the long lazy slumber in the midnight Drake was standing in complete darkness. It is the first time he has seen this place. Drake could not recall when he has first arrived or how he had arrived.

Drake sub consciously pulled his hand up to pinch himself on the cheek; he felt pain as it was a hard pinch. He stared hard in the darkness; He could see himself, his legs, arms, chest… but still in the dark. In the distance he could see something glittery. What is that, he thought, is it a mirage? He approached the shiny thing quietly until he could identify it was a female, her back was facing him. He identified it to be a female because the glimmer shone and gave out a feminine outline. She, the mysterious person, was covered in complete darkness just like him. Who is that? He thought. He could only see one wing on her back. The wing had the slightest glimmer. It was a left wing which was sprouted from her back. It was a single wing which had broken feathers and was falling apart. He identified it to be an angel because it was the consequences of trying to obtain more power. Quickly she sensed someone from behind her and turned around. Her marble deep blue eyes became visible now. They shined as they saw him. The only thing drake could see was the wings and the eyes and her feminine outline. Drake had been spotted. The mysterious place Drake was at gradually became light. She also faded into light, vanished into thin air; it was as if she had kicked him out of the unknown place. Drake then realised it was a dream. Drake awakened to see the afternoon sunset. What is the meaning of this to Drake? Why is this one in his dreams? Is this a curse…?

It's that time of day, like all teenagers, Drake needed to get ready! He Ran out of his room to the left ready to exit the grand palace to the cliff side, where the school belonged, it was going to start soon.
"STOP!” shouted a deep voice. It could only belong to one person, thought Drake as he slowly turned a full 180o to see the one and only king standing in the middle of the hallway behind him. He was dressed in his usual royal gowns, a long robe colours of , "Take him with you", he told Drake. The doll sized royal pet ran through the air and landed on his shoulder, because like all summons, they can fly and float, "The white horse of rage", Drake whispered and then turned and carried on running down the hallway, "I'm going to be late!" he shouted, realising he was already too late, but still wanting to go.

The fireworks were about to start. The fireworks were a kind of indicator to represent a special day. Today the fireworks were to represent the start of a fresh new year in the school. New students gather up at the school as a welcoming day, its up to them whether to go or not.

Drake rushed to the Cliffside. There was a nice gentle breeze tonight, great weather to watch them in but firstly, Drake needed to find a place to watch them from. Searching for a place was not exactly easy either for a prince as everyone was looking at him, thinking how lucky they were to be in the same school as him and with the king’s small sized pet sitting on his shoulder well… it attracted even more attention, everyone knew about the white horse of rage, its past is very unforgettable.

Drake looked around; it was full of students already, old and new. The older students had summons (pets), the bigger they are the more experience they have with either magic or fighting mysteries. It was the summons which took up most of the school grounds. There was a small section of the school barricaded, as the fire students were reserved to light the fireworks there.

Everyone seemed to already have a place ready to watch. 'Useless' he thought to himself, closing his eyes in hesitation doing a fast spin on one of his feet, ready to go home but accidentally stepping on someone's fingers instead, "Sorry" he said looking down, another royal! How lucky for everyone to have not one royal but two royals! He thought instantly. She quickly pulled her hand away and looked up and the moon reflected into her eyes as she gave an evil glare, letting her black hair blow in the gentle breeze and the dark shade of the moonlight cover her face.
How did Drake know she was a royal? Well… there’s another royal pet on her shoulder, very well recognised, "The black panther of white wind" he whispered in shock, the moon raiders royal summon…

It was full of students already, old and new. The older students had summons (pets), the bigger they are the more experience they have with either magic or fighting mysteries. It was the summons which took up most of the school grounds. There was a small section of the school barricaded, as the fire students were reserved to light the fireworks there.

There were many stories of the Black Panther. One of them was how they balanced out the war of light and dark with the king of Celsia (Drakes father). The Black Panther belonged to Queen of Moon raiders, a powerful goddess. The queen of moon raiders was not exactly human; she was more of an angel. Both pets must have slaughtered over thousands of demons alone without its master during that one infamous battle. The panther looked at Drake with its deadly green eyes, it was full of poison. It opened its jaws revealing its sharpened white fangs and yawned. No harm was done, being so caught up in this act the first of the fireworks boomed. Drake looked up as the fireworks went in succession in all different colours of the rainbow covering right through the starry night sky. The fireworks were tiny, they were indeed different colours but they bloomed like small flowers, young flowers. Each firework was perfectly circular like a flower’s head. It was loud as expected of fireworks making it full of excitement. Drake set his attention where the fire students were. They waved their hands around crazily as they controlled a tiny fireball which they use to light every firework there, such honour to do so too. Drake looked back at the sky, the starry sky was wiped from it, replaced it was a heavy layer of grey smoke. Such tiny fireworks can produce so much smoke he sighed. There was only 12 fireworks lit thought Drake. He had counted the amount of times the fireworks went off. It was such a short display. Drake slowly looked back down at his foot side where the young moon raider had been sitting. He thought as he looked how lucky he was to see another royal at the same school but to his disappointment she had already disappeared without a trace, just like how the angel faded into the light in his dream this morning. Drake scanned everything around him. Everyone was leaving; it was a successful display after all and obviously Drake done so too.

The next morning Drake woke up early. He had planned to see, in the garden, one of the captured ancients, the ancient spirit of fire captured by its arch rival, ice. The captured ancients were once humans like us, but because of their immense power they had been captured and could not be released: for many reasons. The main reason was because they are too strong; after all they have the power to balance out a war upon being released. They gave the students many quests to do, at fixed dates. This is to keep them company as they have eyes everywhere, spying on each and every student. The first one was said to be in four days and the students will never know what the event is until the day arrives, so they’ll have to wait until then.

Drake walked around the stone-floored garden and stared at the giant block of ice with a flickering flame in the middle; the colours of the flame was strange, it was not red/orange like every else flame. The flame was a cold blue flame; perhaps the ice surrounding it is overlapping its real colour. Drake imagined what the spirit would look like if it was human. Would it be a male or a female, and would he or she be old or young? He could never figure this out, it was one of the most commented mysteries; they only come out to prevent war, that is if there are any wars. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated at staring at the block harder, he could see the flame inside it flicker from time to time, but on some days he could see parts of a face like a nose or an eye within it, but he could never make out whether he could see a female or a male. However, today it was just a flame.

One of Drakes loyal servants approached Drake: "It’s time to go young master, today is the test of power," said Drake’s servant in the garden beside him. Drake looked at him, he was right, it was time for school, "The test of power, huh?” Drake then said and looked back at the block of ice. This time a mouth with a grin appeared in the flames and Drake shook his head, “Beginners lesson” he whispered, Drake did not like being treated as a child.

Day one~
Drake arrived at the north gate where the school gardens are. Yesterday the place was full of people. Today there were just the new comers, the new students just like Drake. Everyone was gathered around a valkarie listening to her instructions (All valkaries are females; the school is ran by females because the school is very feminist, as the head of the school is). "Listen carefully, to pick your desired summon, you must firstly think of what it is, close your eyes and then open them again. That is all, simple, if you cannot do this then leave because this is not even a beginners lesson!" bellowed the teacher, a valkarie, a freedom fighter and a scary one too.

Drake followed as the valkarie had instructed, closed his eyes and pictured the first animal that came to his head, a fox. Opening his eyes, there it was a fox, a normal sized fox sitting in the school gardens, he looked around the room everyone else had their summons/pets now too, but they are all tiny compared to his fox. Drakes fox was orange and white furred. Its tiny pebble eyes were marble black. It waved its tail around energetically as it looked at Drake, eye to eye. Drake saw images: he was placed in another world again. He looked around; it was like a white hole, no edges, no walls, no nothing just plain white. After looking around desperately for something, anything, a hand appeared before him, a young persons hand, skin slightly tanned, nails were neatly cut and short. The hand was taken form of a hand shake. Drake pulled his hand up and shook it as it seems to cause no harm again. The unknown dimension suddenly shattered. He was just staring at the fox again; his hand was still by his side. He picked his hand up and looked at it. Could this have been a contract between the fox and Drake?

The next instruction was given by the valkaries again. "Get into line with your summon in front of you, biggest summons to smallest and hurry! I don’t have all day!" she yelled, once again Drake did as she said. After a couple of minutes of confusion everyone finally stood in a line, side by side with the summons in front of them. At either side of Drake were girls, to his left, with a summon much larger than his, in the form of a peacock, and to his right with a summon much smaller, in the form of a raven, both birds.
"The first two people come out then the next!” continued the valkaire. This paired him and the girl with the peacock. Eventually, everyone got into a double line, the biggest summons to smallest summons.
“Remember the person next to you, because from now on you ‘will’ be a team” she shouted finally. “We shall meet again tomorrow for your next lesson, now you may all go”. Drake looked at the girl standing next to him; she looked no older than he was. She looked back at him and gave a gentle smile, but weirdly Drake thought she looked like the same girl from the fireworks the day before. Drake smiled back and said “I look forward to working together”. She smiled once again and nodded her head, turned and started to walk away, leaving him on his own. Strange, he thought again, how someone who is not even a royal can be stronger than him, a prince.
"Greetings your majesty" said the other girl with the raven. Drake looked at her and nodded "If she was not here then I would be in the same team as you, unfortunately that can't come true, so the best of luck to you" he raised an eyebrow and looked at her strangely as she walks away.

Day two~
When Drake arrived at the school everyone was already there sitting at the school gardens in two parallel lines. Only a few spaces were missing from the people who have not arrived yet. Drake spotted the girl with the young peacock and casually walked over to her from his sitting position, he then realised he had forgotten to ask for her name, "Morning," he said waving at her, "Morning," she replied and returned to where Drake was sitting a moment ago. They waited in a double line with fewer gaps now. They sat silently staring at the school. It was like a miniature palace. White wall’s, nice location and the weather was nice too.

Suddenly there was two valkaries which appeared from the front of the school doors. They must have jumped from the first floor or something. They do have super physical abilities after all. The valkarie turned around and faced the big oak wooden doors and pushed the door open. In front of them now was a grand white room. In this room was the entrance (the one they have just walked through), another wooden door (straight ahead) and two stairs. The wooden stairs was curved around the room; they both lead to the first floor. Where the stairs ended on the first floor was a balcony. Everyone could see what’s on top of this balcony.

At this moment of time there was a women standing on top, looking down at everyone. Her skin was very pale, she had beautiful snow white hair which was tied back and she looked very young from where they were standing. She was wearing a long black dress which must have been bigger than her current size because even her hands were covered fully by the long sleeves. Everyone must have been staring at her for a while, even the valkaries. That was until she walked away, slowly. Her heels taped on the floor as she walked away, all eyes followed her. Tap, tap, tap as she disappeared to one of the hallways on the first floor.

Finally the valkaries began to move again. They walked on forwards, pass the curved stairs towards the other wooden door. The wooden door was made of oak like the entrance door. Both valkaries pushed the door using much more strength than before. You could see the muscles on their arms tensing as they used more force on the one door. At last their hard work was success, the door opened slowly as they decreased their strength again. Their muscles relaxed a bit more. The door seemed heavy. The door was opened enough for one person to go through at the time. As everyone piled into the new room they realised why it was so heavy. The door was very thick. It had no gap between the floors so they were pushing it along the floor. There were scrape marks along the floor to the direction which the door opens.

The room they were currently in was very different from the rest. It was not built of the holy white bricks anymore. It had tiles; black and white tiles which were checked. In this room was one window, a big window which nearly took up the one wall space. The window allowed light through. The room was lit by natural sun light. In this room was a wooden podium. There was something on top of the podium, Drake could not make it out from where he was standing.
"Today you are choosing your own spiritual teacher," said the valkarie in a calm voice as they took positions in front of the podium, "Everyone come out, team by team and collect a dice of elemental" she continued. Each pair walked over to the podium where the dice were and picked one up. The dices were small, they fit into the palm of the hand easily.

The dice of elemental has 6 faces: water, earth, fire, wind, ice and finally thunder. When the dice are tossed, depending on what face it lands on, 'it' will appear and from then on, 'it' will be your spiritual teacher. The valkaries do not teach instead the spiritual teachers teach.

Drake passed the dice to his partner since he was the one who picked it up; she gladly accepted it and tossed the dice like anyone would do. POOF, a puff of red smoke appeared, and from it came some heavy coughing; gradually the smoke reduced itself to reveal a floating fireball. “The name’s ‘Flame’” said the fireball choking in its own smoke “I will be your spiritual teacher from now on, so don’t hold back. I know I won’t, so pick up the dice and then follow me”

After Flame introduced itself, Drake and his partner moved out into the school gardens. This was the place where they would start the magic chant lesson. Firstly, they needed to choose their personal element which needed them to throw the elemental dice again. Drake tossed the dice onto the floor. To his surprise, the face was thunder, “Well done, nice element!” said Flame, he then went over to the dice and picked it up and passed it to his partner. She also threw the dice, fire again, “Excellent, not only do you have the element fire, you also have me as a spiritual teacher.” The next part was the actual magic chant lesson. “We are going to learn how to cast magic today,” said Flame and then he turned to Drake “How would you cast?” “I’m not sure” Drake replied “Ok, how about you?” Flame asked now facing her. She nodded, “Show me then,” he said soon after summoning a target for her in the school gardens. She turned to face the target. Then raising her left hand stretched out in front of her, a fireball flew out of her hand suddenly, hitting the target. “So, you’re not a beginner...” said Flame suspiciously.

Drake stared at her in amazement thinking how she knew all this but Flame suddenly turned and asked Drake “How would you cast?” “I’m not sure,” he replied again “How does thunder strike then?” “Like this” he said moving his arm out, stretching it above his head in the air then moving towards the ground in an angle. Suddenly a flash appeared as thunder struck. He’s done it, he cast thunder! “Good job!” said Flame “Lessons are over for today, we shall meet tomorrow for the next lesson. Weapon mastery tomorrow.” Then Flame disappeared in mid air with a puff of red smoke. Drake turned to her and asked "By the way, what’s your name?" "You should introduce yourself first" she smiled then turned and started walking away, leaving him behind again like the day before, but this time Drake shouted "My name’s Drake." She turned and shouted "Althea," and carried on walking away.

Day three~
On the third day, Drake knew he had been slightly late for the past two days, so he decided to wake up earlier just to make himself look good. Unfortunately, he woke up too early and arrived at school too soon but he waited patiently. He sat in the garden. He was glowing in the hot sun. The weather was awkward, it was very windy too. After about ten minutes, the girl with the raven appeared. She ran towards Drake, all excited with a big smile. Drake stood up and took a step back, in alarm. “MORNING” she shouted, “Morning, you’re early… sorry I don’t know your name,” “Ivy,” she said with a giggle. Another 5 minutes passed. Silence was spread between them. Other students just started to arrive and finally Althea arrived. “Morning Ivy, morning Drake,” said Althea. Flame suddenly appeared, shouting “Weapon mastery! Let’s go!” then floated off. Flame knew when they were both there.

Althea and Drake followed Flame into a forest, “How do you know Ivy?” Drake whispered to Althea “She hates me”, she whispered back. Then Flame stopped in the middle of dry forest. Fresh sunlight shone through the gaps of the leaves. Flame summoned up a giant room with walls covered with shiny weapons. Althea and Drake stepped into the room following Flame. “Take one weapon to be your main weapon and then position yourselves at either end of the room,” Flame’s instructions echoed in the room. So Drake and Althea looked around the room, and then soon after Drake picked up a two-handed sword which had a long thin blade. This he held it with both his hands. Althea picked up two short blades, called butterfly blades and then the room disappeared like dust. Two dummies in the shape of scare-crows were now in front of them. “I want both of you to attack the dummies, strip them from their straw and you get to go I’m feeling generous because tomorrow is an event from the almighty captured ancients,” said Flame before it disappeared like yesterday.

Drake stood there and observed Althea. Althea started slicing the dummy with the dual blades but was barely cutting the straws. There was two slices on the scarecrow. The straw split open as if it was a real wound on a human. Drake stood in front of the scarecrow and decided to try the same thing with the great sword in his hands. He picked it up. It was heavy as it was full of metal. He then tensed his arms and swung it at the scarecrow…the same thing happened; only a few straws fell down. There was only one big cut on the scarecrow. It was much deeper than the one Althea had done. “Some lesson this is,” said Althea still hitting the dummy as she saw him beginning to hit the scarecrow. “Yes,” Drake replied turning to see how she was doing. She was ahead of him by far; the dummy was already half stipped from its straw! Her arms were placed by her side as she relaxed her muscles.

Drake turned back and started hitting the dummy harder; “I’m finished,” said Althea after a long while but Drake did not reply, knowing that he needed to concentrate on attacking. Drake was competitive but in this challenge he could not win. He has just about caught up to where she was when he first looked! Drake began to get angry. She started to walk away slowly. The sunlight shone in the direction she was going. She had left the blades behind on the floor next to a tree. Drake carried on slicing knowing he couldn’t leave if he didn’t finish even if the elemental teacher was not there. He did not want to go against its words. The stress from holding and swinging the sword over and over again was building up; it felt like fire burning his muscles. He finally decided to take a break and sat down in front of the dummy taking a breather. He looked at the blades she used. It was shining on the floor from the sun light. It reflected into his eyes. Drake closed his eyes, and placed his sweaty hand on his face, covering his eyes. He finally decided, maybe it would be quicker if he used them (the butterfly blades) because there were two! He had not realised earlier because he had been concentrating too much on attacking the dummy. He staggered over to them and picked them up. Slowly he walked back and attacked the dummy with them. Much easier, he thought as the dummy was stripped from its straw in no time; no wonder she was so fast, two is better than one! Drake finally decided to leave the place, knowing that it was late and that he was tired. He left the weapons near both the plain naked dummies and walked away leaving the forest. He walked in the same sunlight as Althea did. He turned once more to see the dummies, but they had now disappeared along with the weapons.

Day four~
On the fourth day Drake walked in slightly later than the day before but everyone had already arrived. They were all standing in a circle around something; he could not make it out because there were some people who were taller than him in the school. He quickly rushed over and forced himself through the crowd. He finally remembered that today was the day an event from the captured ancients. He looked at the valkarie standing in the middle who was shouting out “There will be no lessons today!” Everyone cheered in happiness as they heard it. “However… there will be an event on at the same time as the firework festival; at the same place too. SO DON’T BE LATE! Or else you will fail!” continued the valkarie. She repeated herself once again before disappearing.