A World Of Decree: And The Seven Laws

After classes started back up, most professors didn't take it easy on the students after the month long break. The very first day back, professor Zelle already assigned a 5-page report on some ancient magic user from a certain time era no one truly knew, or cared about.

Zelle was usually straight to the point, unforgiving any excuses that might come his way. However, that is what students should expect from a professor at Princewood Academy. Calvin Pride on the other hand spent most of his time babbling and teaching certain things that even he didn't know. Most of his lectures broke at least two or three Princewood rules, but everyone liked him, so no one complained.

After Calvin's class ended in the late afternoon, Rina came to visit him in his office, alone. She had a look of confidence that couldn't be erased, and the spirit to do whatever she had to.

Calvin welcomed her in after dismissing the previous student who came to see him. "Ms. Ambrose, what can I do for you on this fine afternoon?" Calvin started as he crossed one of his legs over the other.

"You know what this is about."

Calvin sighed, "I've already told you. Most of the zodiacs live out of the country. And I don't even know if they'll say yes-"

"Are you not even going to try!" Rina cut him off. "You're seriously just going to sit here and do nothing? Even after telling me I can bring her back. After telling me I needed another heart. After telling me I needed to kill-"

"Alright, enough." Calvin raised his hand at her with the force of one thousand slaps across the face. He didn't want to listen to anything she was saying, despite it being the complete truth. "I'll write a letter to all of them. But because they're out of the country, it can take up to a month to even hear back from any of them." Calvin started talking with his hands like a mime performing in front of an audience. "Let's say that some write back. And let's say some will accept. This will mean that we'll have to travel to them. Meaning you might not be back for the tournament."

Rina paused for a moment, trying to unravel the sudden knot in her stomach. She felt the need to be apart for both, but for her, there was only one that would topple any other decisions. "I choose Violet. And we will make it back."

Calvin sighed again, "Alright, I'll let you know if any of them respond. And don't forget, training starts tonight, don't be late."

Rina nodded, walking out feeling torn between two paths like the sun split between the horizon.

…

With the tournament approaching closer and closer, Calvin decided to switch up their training to better prepare them for what's to come. Instead of focusing on pushing out as much power and force as possible, the main drills would revolve around either trying to learn new spells, or being placed in unfamiliar environments without a seperate notice.

Their first day was in Arena 11, where there was nothing but sand on one side, and pure mud on the opposite. The sky was as fake as always, giving a false representation of the real time, but giving enough light for everyone to see. Calvin stood in the middle, facing his students like a drill sergeant preparing them for battle. There was another man standing next to him, but he remained quiet, possibly waiting for an introduction.

Faibel, Atlas, Rina, Leo, Laena, and Paris all wore comforting clothes. Clothes they could breath in, move around easier with, and clothes that didn't make them stand out too much. Cartuja was serving detention in professor El-Grah's class for being late, missing the first day of training.

Calvin clapped his hands together to grab everyone's attention, "First off, good evening. Before we begin today's session, I was lucky enough to grab this goon for our practice."

The man chuckled a bit, "You really be mockin' me'in front of these kids eh?" He said in a carefree voice. He had spiked brown hair with a small bandana to accompany it, he wore clothes that didn't seem to be his size, and just seemed like he barely cared for anything.

Paris and Rina sighed, sharing an agreed look of, "Yup. This guy is definitely a Cartuja."

Calvin laughed alongside him, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Teak Powers. I asked him if he could help you out for your training. He is a part of Elementalists, a Guild that consistently makes it into the top 5 of the Gilded Throne every year."

Rina's and Paris' expressions suddenly shifted into the completely opposite direction. Their eyes widened in disbelief, but they tried their best not to show it. Not only were they taken off by his personality, but his clothing and carelessness didn't match his accomplishments.

Teak scratched his head with a squinted look, "Man that damn Golden Eagle never loses… I don't know how anyun' be able to beat em."

"Golden Eagle?" Paris asked.

"The Golden Eagle is currently the undefeated champion of the Gilded Throne," Calvin butted in. "They are on the same level as the Bureau. If that puts it into perspective."

Leo tilted his head in confusion. He had a plain look on his face, but it was terrifying. It's as if he just slaughtered an entire village and felt nothing but wasted time smear his hands rather than blood. "Well, then we'll beat them."

Everyone stared at him as if he was a killer in disguise, but that look faded quite quickly. Teak laughed, "Man you sure got them livelies up in here Cal!"

"Don't even get me started," Calvin shared a laugh with Teak no one understood. They acted like they were brothers, but looked nothing alike in any universe known to man.

Teak cracked his neck, stretched his arms, and jumped in place a few times. "Aight let's get this goin, I gotta get back soon."

"Right," Calvin motioned, "Everyone, I'd like you to all attack Teak at once. I can even let you know that he uses magic revolving around earth and rock. And please, don't be afraid to hurt him."

"Now we're talking!" Leo instantly snapped his fingers, forming a small flame in his arms. "Fireball." He yelled as he caulked back his hand, expanding the ball of fire into a much greater size, and launching it like a cannonball directly at Teak.

Everyone else took this time to spread out, not giving Teak any lign of focus. However, Teak raised a wall of sand from below him, dispersing the flame and sending clumps of sand flying in every direction where space allowed it.

Rina let the sand pass through her, not having any challenge to avoid the attack. Paris barely dodged out of the way, and Leo just used another spark of fire to disperse the rest of the clumps being launched at his allies. The arena quickly turned into a bright parade of flames, that is, until Teak sent a sheet of sand from below to extinguish it almost immediately.

"Smart kid!" Teak gave praise to the blonde boy he locked eyes with.

Faibel and Laena remained standing on the sidelines, both waiting for this to be over. Paris grabbed the holster of her blade, ready to unleash it, but Teak saw it coming from a mile away. "Crush." He said, flowing his hand through the air to create some sort of rock up in the sky, and sending it catapulting towards Paris like a meteor.

Paris quickly unsheathed her blade, sending a thin slice into the open air above her, and following with a spell to propel the force of her attack. "Lacerate!" The air she sliced quickly turned into a fierce gust of wind, slicing through the rock headed towards her like a mere apple on a tree.

The split halves of the rock were sent flying in different directions by the wind, creating a sandstrom of rubble and dirt. After a few seconds, the breeze began to settle along with the sand that was lifted from the ground,

Rina gave Atlas a look, and launched a flurry of thin sheets of water directly at Teak. Their precision was perfect, looking like tiny needles traversing through the air like birds in the sky.

Teak stretched his hand out towards the mud on the opposite side of the arena, making it fly into his hand in large chunks like boulders rolling off a cliff. "Rock Prism." He said in the nick of time, forming a giant wall of hardened mud to block the blades of water approaching. Although the water still managed to leave marks and cracks in the wall, they didn't have enough force to break it.

As Teak made the wall fall to clear his vision, a boy appeared in his vision from the falling clumps of old dirt. The boy had dark black hair, eyes glowing bright shades of white, and a face that had no remorse. It was possibly the first time Teak had ever felt mentally scared of the sight he was seeing. A sight of his own death approaching, and not enough time to cast a spell to prevent it.

"Augment." Atlas whispered below his breath, sending his fist straight into Teak's face. However, his fist stopped mere centimeters away from Teak's frightful expression.

The pressure flowing with the punch sent howling winds scorching through the arena like a hurricane in a farm field. The pressure ripped Teak's tight clothing into shreds, sending his bandana flying along with them. The beam of force struck the mud like a meteor, leaving a trailing line of devastation along its path behind him.

"Check mate." Atlas said below his breath as he lowered his fist, waiting for the winds to die down with it.

The entire Arena slowly fell into a deep silence, filled with nothing but dropped jaws and blank stares. Teak was the most surprised of all, shaking Atlas's hand as a token of appreciation.

Even Calvin had a look of excitement and astonishment mixed into his expression. He knew that Atlas had gotten stronger, but it's only been a month since the last time he saw him fight. To think he's gotten this strong seemed like a fluke.

Atlas walked back over to Rina, giving her a high-five for the assistance in distracting their opponent. Teak however, gave Calvin a dirty look, "Cal my friend, you neva tell me you were raisin' some monsters eh?"

"To be honest, I'm quite shocked myself," Calvin said as he tried to hide his nervousness with an apologetic tone.

Teak took a look down, seeing his pants still intact, but the remnants of his shirt remained scattered across the sand like rocks on a beach. He could see a few of his old scars covering his c.h.e.s.t, and a few tattoos on the upper portion of his arms. "This body sure been through some beatin.." He said to himself.

"Perhaps some one on one's would be more appropriate…" Calvin muttered under his breath, but made sure everyone heard him anyways.

Teak locked eyes with Calvin, but his hand raised itself in the opposite direction, pointing a finger towards Atlas. "Him." Teak said in a more serious voice, gaining a grin of thrill and suspense. "I want him first."

Atlas cracked his knuckles, "You're on!"

…

A couple hours went by with individual fights against Teak and every member of Endless Sun. Teak won every battle, but left them with lessons to be learned, and situations to consider.

It was nearly 10 at night by the time the training session ended, leaving Teak and Calvin to be the last ones standing in the Arena. Nearly all the sand and mud had been either completely destroyed, or scattered in piles across the space available to them.

Teak had a few scratches, but they were nothing more but souvenirs to add to his scar collection, so he avoided the healing from Laena. "What a night eh?" Teak wiped the remaining sweat off his forehead.

"Thank you for coming." Calvin smirked, "What do you think… You know, about them? I think they have a pretty good shot at making it past the preliminaries."

"Wait you ain't hear what they doin?"

"What do you mean?" Calvin gave a look of concern, expecting bad news to come out any second.

"Since there be like a hundred or so guilds that be competing, they be taking a representative from each Guild. So let's say there's exactly a hundred Guilds right? Their making sections of 10 Guilds or so, meaning 10 people in total per represenative or somethin' and then they goin fight, and last one standin makes it into tourney. Get wat I'm sayin."

Calvin tried his best to understand Teak's way with words, translating everything into proper english. What he ended up with is that every Guild will send a representative to the Capital. There will be sections where five or more representatives fight it out in a free-for-all, and the last representative standing gets the entry into the tournament along with their Guild. Every Guild has the privilege to pick, but their safety isn't guaranteed, and fighting is only done by your own will to win.

"Seriously?" Calvin questioned, knowing Teak wouldn't lie. "Who are you guys planning on sending?"

Teak laughed, "Although I'd love to say I ain't tellin you, but you already know who my friend."

Calvin stroked his stubble as if he was supposed to know the answer, only realizing it after a careful brush through his thin streak of hair on his cheeks and chin. "Don't tell me it's Ellacina?" He said as he realized it was.

Teak gave a nod, "She's our captain after all."

Calvin clenched his fist, knowing the chance of winning a free-for-all against her was too miniscule. Even a one-on-one would prove fatal to anyone from Endless Sun. Ellacina was known for showing no mercy, and even taking lives in previous tournaments. However, Calvin kept his confidence high, and his hopes even higher. "Hmm, very well. We'll just have to beat her then."

Teak laughed even louder this time. "Man you sure know how to get me riled up Cal. So whadaya say? Same time tomorrow? I wanna push these kids to their limits."

Calvin shook his hand, "Same time tomorrow indeed. And you'll get to meet our secret weapon, Cartuja."

Teak grew a fierce grin on his face and continued squeezing the life out of Calvin's soft hand.