Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

"I'm a little nervous for this class," Eli said as the group of boys continued looking over at him and Alaric to snicker at them.

They would occasionally whisper and point and laugh among themselves.

"Do you know those boys at all, Eli?" Alaric asked.

Eli nodded his head, "yeah, my parents work for their parents. So I was often bullied by them growing up. Now they follow me into officer school as well, I guess."

Alaric glanced over at the boys, and there was one particular dark-haired boy that stood out from the rest. He was large and bulky for only being 12 years old, and he seemed to be the leader of the little group.

"Well Eli, let's show them up in the bright coin class then," Alaric said with a wink.

Eli smiled from Alaric's encouragement, "let's do it."

The class made their way towards open yard in the back of the school. The bright coin class was held outdoors in a stadium like building with an open roof.

"The academy grounds are much bigger than I thought..." Alaric said.

Eli added, "well, Irigia's military is one of the greatest in the world; of course, they would invest a lot into their officers."

The class stepped into the stadium. Alaric glanced at the features of the stadium; it had seating all-around facing a sandy pit in the middle. He looked up to the sky and saw a humanoid figure coming down with wings on her back.

A couple of the girls and one boy screamed when the figure dive-bombed on their location, only pulling up at the last minute.

"Welcome, class! I am your instructor for the bright coin class, and my name is Leah." Once her wings disappeared after her flashy entrance, Alaric observed her.

She was lean but muscular, and she seemed to have a mischievous side to her.

Leah held out her hand, and on her hand was a glove with a bright coin attached to the middle of it.

These gloves are what officers use to hold their bright coins so that we are not continually holding them with our hands.

She walked to the side and pulled out a bucket with a bunch of gloves.

"Everyone come and get a glove that fits you."

The class moved forward, and each grabbed a glove.

Alaric put his glove on and clenched his fist a few times to see how it felt. Then he waited for the teacher's instructions.

Leah grabbed a locked case next and opened it with a key. Inside the case were 30 bright coins arranged neatly.

Leah looked around at the students, "now this is very important! You will have the bright coin you pick for the rest of your career in the military, so don't lose it! Also, fights on the grounds that are not authorized by the academy are forbidden and will result in immediate expulsion if you're caught. You can serve time in prison as well if the damage is extensive enough. Now, one at a time, come up and grab your bright coin."

The class lined up with Alaric and Eli at the back. They received their coins one at a time and placed them in their gloves.

Eli grabbed his coin in front of Alaric, and it glowed brightly, reacting to Eli's touch.

Leah smiled, "I think you are going to have some great talent with the bright coin!"

Eli smiled and stood off to the side, excitedly bouncing.

Alaric stood forward next and grabbed the last coin. There was no reaction, and Leah squinted a bit.

Alaric looked at her questioningly, but Leah only said, "go stand off to the side with the others for now."

Alaric went and stood next to Eli when Leah yelled to the class, "alright, everyone! I want you to manifest an ability. The abilities you manifest will be different depending on who you are, so don't worry if you get something different! If you are very talented, then you will even be able to use multiple abilities!"

The class began muttering excitedly, and the one large boy with the dark hair stood forward and said, "this should be easy then."

The boy stretched out his hand, and a silver sword materialized in his hand. The boy smirked, showing his ability off to those around him.

One girl closed her eyes to focus, and a dozen butterflies materialized around her, and they were each emitting a different kind of floating substance. The girl began laughing and showing her ability off to her friends.

"Here I go..." Eli muttered and closed his eyes to focus. Suddenly, bits of the earth and other materials began floating in the air.

"Truly marvelous!" Leah said, looking at Eli's ability.

"Telekinesis is truly rare among coin users. Use it well!"

Eli chuckled as different objects were floating around him.

Alaric smiled, 'my turn now.'

He raised his hand and focused, but instead of anything happening, his coin became dull and faded completely.

"What the?!" Alaric said out loud, confused, and nervous.

Leah walked over, concern was written all over her face, "that's never happened before; I'll have to talk to the other teachers about this."

The boy who materialized the sword laughed, "that idiot can't even use the bright coin!"

His posse laughed, but they shut up after Leah gave them a stern look.

She spoke to Alaric, "as I said, I'll talk to the other teachers and figure out what to do about this. This is not normal at all."

She walked away and spoke to the rest of the class, "something important to remember is that there will be arena fights at the end of the year to judge how far you've come in mastering your ability or abilities. It doesn't matter what ability you have; anybody can beat anybody with a little bit of practice! Now, head to your next class on tactics and I will see you all tomorrow."

The class walked away, and Eli was patting Alaric on the shoulder. Alaric was feeling like a failure after this class.

Leah watched the students walk away and whispered to herself, "I need to ask Burt about this."