Part 1: The Academy - Chapter 1

Part 1 - The Academy

Chapter 1

Eliwen Academy, a school famously known for hand-selecting its students based on their fighting capabilities. In a world where your combat abilities judge how successful you can be in life, it isn't surprising that Eliwen Academy is the best of the best when it comes to high school education. Being accepted into the ranks of the place where legends are born is considered one of the highest honors one can ever receive as a human being. Just having the school’s name on a resume will get you hired anywhere one wished to, it can really open up a lot of options for people. But the majority of students that graduate go on to compete in the tournaments set up all over the world, broadcast to millions of people for their viewing pleasure. Famous champions like Yu Hanusho and Lee Balgard all came from Eliwen, giving the academy a lot to be proud of.

It was still a school of course, teaching the fundamentals of society. You had your basic and advanced math courses, as well as history, English, foreign languages, and all of that.

            But that still didn’t change the fact that it was a school of fighters, a place I certainly didn’t belong in.

            “There is a reason you’re here though, Mr. Galloway,” a voice spoke from beside me. I turned to look into the withered, old face of the headmaster as he led me across the school’s grounds.

            I hesitated for a moment as I processed his words, trying to make sense as to why he would say such a thing out of the blue. Sadly, there was only one conclusion I could come up with.

            “Sir… did you just read my mind?” The response he gave me was a chuckle and a light pat on the shoulder.

            “We do not only accept fighters into our ranks, keep that in mind,” he told me. I still had no clue what he was talking about, but pressing the issue wouldn’t get me anywhere so I decided to ignore it and continue being led around the grounds.

To say this place is huge would be an understatement. The academy is located in the center of Marolyn, a large city along the west coast. Although it isn’t like the capital, where all the tournaments are held in this country, Marolyn itself would probably be ranked as number two on a list of the biggest cities. It’s a huge change from living out in the country, believe me. Everything just seems gigantic, as if there’s a competition to see who can build the largest building in the smallest amount of space. The city itself feels a little too packed together, but luckily the academy has its own land, opting to have one enormous structure where the school actually operates, and a bunch of dorms and other stores scattered about the streets; much less clustered than the city.

I had already been shown the school, but was unable to see inside the rooms as class was already in session, and now the headmaster was leading me to the dorm I would be staying in while I was here. I stole a glance at the old man as he was telling me all about the rules of the school, which I was only half-listening to; I had already gone through the rulebook several times to commit it to memory.

Headmaster Mikahliss was a man of many mysteries. On the outside he appeared as nothing more than an old man, dressed in robes much like something one of those Shaolin monks would wear. The top of his head was completely bald, reflecting the afternoon sun rather clearly. He had a long beard of wispy-white hair that hung from his chin like a veil. The way his eyes seemed to sparkle with a life-time of knowledge and wisdom only the elderly could obtain made you wonder just how old he actually was. Our tour had taken a few hours to reach the point where we were now, and it consisted of many treks up and down flights of stairs, yet the old man still walked with a spring in his step without an ounce of fatigue showing on his face. I, on the other hand, had hit the point of exhaustion an hour ago and I was far from out of shape.

There was a rumor that one hundred years ago, the headmaster was the World Championship victor seven times in a row. The World Championship only happened every five years. And you had to be at least 21 to enter. Which would make him a very, very old individual. Which shouldn’t be possible.

“Hmmm,” I heard said person go. I then realized he had stopped talking a while ago while I was lost in my musings. “We’re here,” the headmaster said, indicating the building in front of us with a hand.

I looked up at the two-story building behind the brown, wooden fence. There wasn’t anything special about it from what I could tell. It was a gray shingled house with a flat roof design. From where I was standing I could see the metal railing that ran along the outer edges of the top of the house. A stone walkway wound its way up to the inconspicuous white front door.

I turned and bowed to the headmaster. “Thank you, for everything,” I told him. And I meant it; I’m not the kind of person who just says things out of politeness.

He gave me a kind smile and brushed away my thanks with a bow of his own. “There’s no need for that, you belong here. Now, your room is number 4 and you’ll find it on the first floor. School starts at 8:00 sharp. I expect to see you there tomorrow.” I thanked him again and then he was off, walking back in the direction the academy was at.

A sigh escaped me as I shifted my gaze back to the dorm. The plaque next to the fence read “Pryce”, which I could only assume stood for Jackson Pryce, the champion of the 307^th World Championship. He had won first place without being hit in any of his matches, a feat that had never been accomplished before. And now it was the name of the dorm where I would be staying at for the two years I would be attending Eliwen. I transferred over two months after the school year had started, a little strange but I had no choice. My junior year of high school would start tomorrow and I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited. It had been awhile since I attended school last.

There was little point in reviewing my circumstances, so I pulled open the gate and followed the pathway to the door. After fishing around in my pocket for the key I had been given, I managed to successfully unlock and open the front door.

I had to say, I was rather impressed with the sight I was met with. I stepped into a large, open room that divided itself into parts by the change in furniture. To my left was a staircase that veered to the right after a couple of feet up, which led to the second floor. The room I was currently in contained a sort of living area to the right, a couple steps in. There was a large couch, able to sit at least six people, a recliner, and a loveseat, all brown leather and facing the wall where a brick fireplace sat, unlit. In front of the seats was a glass coffee table, void of any materials on top.

Above the fireplace was a gigantic plasma screen TV hanging on the wall. Within that area, a white, circular rug was covering the polished hardwood floor that the rest of the room had.

To the left of the couch and behind the recliner was a partition set into a wall, allowing vision through the window created. On the other side of this, the floor changed to the black and white tile of the kitchen. It contained all the necessary appliances: a refrigerator, oven, stove, sink, dish washer, trash bin, and cabinets, all much larger than ones I had ever had.

Across from these two sections was the dining room. Much like everything else in this dorm, a very expensive looking wooden table stretched from one wall to the other with a ring of ten equally nice chairs all around it. A hanging light hovered above the table, turned on when I had hit the light switch on my way in, casting a warm glow on the beige colored walls.

I let out a low whistle as I took off my shoes and placed them beside the coat rack, closing the front door behind me. There was a long hallway set between the kitchen area and the dining room, and as I walked down it I was able to see the numbers on the doors on either end, marking each of the five rooms. At the end of the hall was another door, which I assumed led to the backyard.

I decided to explore a bit more, making my way up the stairs near the entrance. As I suspected, the second floor was a replica of the hallway on the first, with the doors all against the right wall. Instead of a door at the end of the hall, a window let in the afternoon sunshine, reminding me that school would be getting out soon.

Turning back, I was able to see that the stairs continued upward, ending at a steel door that sealed any visibility beyond it. I tried the handle only to find it locked. I concluded that the door accessed the roof, but shrugged off any curiosity I might have to go up there. It wasn’t really that interesting.

Wasting no more time, I trudged back downstairs and entered my room: number 4.

My box of possessions had already been delivered and it now sat on my bed in the corner of the room. Across from the door, and next to the bed, was a simple desk and chair, set in front of the window that gave a nice view of the rose bushes on the side of the dorm. To my left and against the wall with the door, was the bookshelf I had ordered, currently empty of what it was meant to hold. Near the bookcase, on the western wall, was another window that looked out into the backyard and a waterfall contraption that emptied out into the little pond was set there. A door leading to the bathroom was to my right and inside I found the shower, toilet, sink, and mirror I would be using.

Lastly, set next to the bathroom and near the desk was a closet. Opening the door I found it to be filled already with several pairs of the academy’s uniform as well as my normal clothes. I shut the door and took another look about the room. I had to admit that living here would be really nice. With that thought in mind I began to unpack the things inside of the box.

My name is Marcus Galloway and I have no talent in fighting what-so-ever. How I got accepted into Eliwen Academy is beyond my understanding. I’m an average human being with average height and weight. I’m of average attractiveness, with dark brown hair that sometimes ends up in my eyes, which I believe to be a color equivalent to s**t. My muscle is severely lacking and I believe that the only thing that stands out about me is the large X-shaped scar on the back of my right hand.

With a sudden bang, the door to my room was thrown open. Standing there was a teenager with his black hair tied back in a short ponytail, a huge grin on his face. His blue eyes lit up as I turned to face him and his smile seemed to grow larger by the second. He was dressed in a t-shirt and khaki shorts, which I found kind of strange due to the chill of November outside. From what I could tell, he was a bit taller than I and had a few more pounds of muscle. He had the kind of face everybody would enjoy looking at, a trait that would come in handy in when meeting new people.

“You the new guy?” he asked me from the doorway.

It took me a moment to recover from the sudden intrusion but I managed to respond with a, “Uh, yeah. Hi, I’m Marcus Galloway.” I held my right hand out to him and he practically ran into the room to shake it.

“Awesome, I’m James Matthews,” I saw his eyes flick down to my scar but he didn’t say anything about it. “Do you want to meet the rest of your dorm mates?”

It occurred to me that while I was unpacking, I had heard other voices and sounds within the house. I don’t know why my mind never registered that fact properly, but for a period of time there were other people in the dorm besides me and I had no clue. That thought made me curse myself for being so careless, I was going to have to remain aware of what was happening around me if I was going to keep myself safe.

“Yeah, sure,” I answered his question, fully abandoning my task of unpacking. James put his arm around my shoulder in an overly friendly manner and began leading me out my door. “Let’s go!”

When we entered the main room, everybody else was already gathered on the couch and chairs in the living room. James brought me to stand in front of the fireplace, in view of the six others there.

“Guys,” he began. “This is Marcus Galloway, the new guy.”

I nodded my head in response and gave them what I believed to be a friendly, “Hello”. It seemed that James decided he would introduce everyone to me, as he started pointing out each of the members in their seats.

“That’s Michelle Himura, the dorm advisor. Although I’m not actually sure why she has that title, she’s not very responsible for being a senior.”

From her spot on the arm of the loveseat, Michelle gave me a wink. Her hair was long and black, reaching down to the small of her back while her bangs were pushed away from her forehead. Eyes of the same shade seemed to have a bored expression in them, as if nothing was really worth her time. She was dressed in a loose-fitting white blouse, the top two buttons open to display quite a bit of cleavage, and black jeans that clung to her legs. For a split second my eyes unconsciously drifted to glance at her well-endowed chest before meeting her face again.

But she noticed.

My face started heating up as she broke out in a knowing smirk. I averted my eyes to the guy sitting next to her in embarrassment.

James introduced him as Scott Robinson, also a senior, and also Michelle’s boyfriend. This only caused to further my embarrassment, but no one except Michelle seemed to notice.

Scott was one of those guys. Tan skin and muscular, blue-eyed with brown hair in a buzz cut. But despite his intimidating appearance, he gave me a friendly grin and a simple hello in his gruff voice. His clothing consisted of a tight short-sleeved shirt, that I was pretty sure was there only to display his muscle, and jeans.

“Next is Cody Barrington, probably the worst fighter of the group.” Cody rolled his eyes at being introduced with this. “But he makes up for it with his technical expertise,” James amended. “He’s in the same class as us.”

In complete contrast to the guy next to him, sitting on the edge of the couch was Cody: a tall, thin boy with short brown hair and chestnut colored eyes. He was dressed in a t-shirt with the brand of a soda printed on the front and nice looking dress pants.

“Hi,” he greeted with a smile, which I returned.

“The one pretending to not listen is Sonia Valez,” James pointed to a girl with short blue hair that was reading a book next to Cody. When her name was called, she looked up from her text, gave me a smile and a small wave, and went right back to reading. I quickly checked the title of her book, saw it was one of my favorites and mentally gave Sonia a +2.

“She’s also a senior and is absolutely amazing with a bow,” James continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her miss a shot since I’ve met her.”

Sonia was short compared to the rest of the group and her green eyes constantly darted across the pages of the book she was reading. She was dressed in grey pants and a purple sweater that hugged her form rather nicely.

“Next to her is her sister, Rika. She’s also in our class,” James told me.

The girl in question was fidgeting slightly in her seat, causing her golden blond hair that was tied in a braid to bounce around with her movements. She looked up at me with big blue eyes and a wide grin when her name was spoken. Rika was wearing simple clothes: jeans and a long-sleeved gray shirt.

“Oh, and she’s also a little devil,” James added, snickering to himself.

“Hey!” Rika shouted, fixing James with a hard glare. “Only to you because you start it all the time!”

I was sensing some weird friendship between the two as they continued their banter. It seemed to be a normal thing that happened since everybody else just ignored them and watched me with varying expressions of apology. I shrugged at them and waited patiently for James to introduce the final girl who was sitting alone on the recliner. He finally left his argument with Rika as the blonde stuck her tongue out at him.

“Okay,” he grinned at me, “that’s Lily.”

“You could do a better introduction than that,” the girl scoffed.

“I’m sorry,” James gave her a mock bow. “That’s Lily Delaney, resident princess and also in our class. Don’t worry; she only acts like this in front of strangers and people she doesn’t like. She’ll warm up to you eventually.”

“Don’t feed him nonsense, I don’t act like anything. And I am not a princess,” Lily snapped.

Lily was practically a rose with a wicked thorn. She was pretty, but had a personality out of hell. She had flaming red hair that cascaded down her shoulders, and violet colored eyes. There was a light dusting of freckles around her nose that just didn’t seem to match her personality. Her casual clothes consisted of black capris and a long-sleeved gray cardigan with a white tank top.

With introductions finished, James left me standing there to plop himself down on the couch in the spot next to Rika. He patted the cushion next to him and looked up. “This is your spot,” he informed me. I shrugged and went to sit down on the couch next to him. My spot was on the end of the couch, closest to the recliner where Lily was curled up on.

I nodded to her with a smile as I settled myself in but she rolled her eyes and fixed her gaze on James as he asked me a question.

“So how’d you do it?” he looked at me with anticipation. I paused and furrowed my eyebrows at him in confusion. Was there something I was missing? I had no clue what he was talking about. The rest seemed to understand, as they all stared at me expectedly.

“How did I do… what?” I asked.

“Get the perfect score on the entrance exam,” he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “The only one who came close was A-class’ Luke, and he only scored a 96. We all failed our entrance exams, except Cody, but we aced the physical test.

“Physical test?”

Rika was the one who ended up answering me. “Yeah, you know. The one where they have you do a bunch of exercises and match you up against other wannabe students.”

“I never… had to do that,” I told them. And it was true. I took the exam and received an acceptance letter a few days later. I didn’t even know what I had scored until now.

“Really?” Cody asked.

“Yeah, really.”

“Even I had to take that and I passed the exam as well.”

“Weird,” I muttered, my mind racing. I had some questions I would have to ask the headmaster tomorrow.

“So what weapon do you use?” James threw another question at me.

I shook my head. “That’s the thing, I don’t use a weapon.”

“Ohhh, so you use your fists like Scott,” James went on, completely missing my meaning. “I never would have guessed that from you, but that’s cool.”

Better stop him now before he asks for a demonstration.

“No,” I told him, “you don’t understand. I don’t fight. At all. I’m not even really sure why I was accepted into this school.”

This statement made everybody pause, except for Michelle who was busy examining her fingernails. Sonia looked up from her book and fixed her gaze on me.

“You don’t fight, or you can’t fight?” she asked.

“I can’t fight,” I admitted. Better to let them know now instead of later, before they assumed things.

“Well that’s lame,” Scott muttered. He received a sharp jab to the side from Michelle’s elbow as the girl continued her examination of her fingers. The large guy winced a little from the impact, and I had to wonder how much power was placed into that blow to make someone as big as Scott feel it.

“Eh, that’s all right,” James told me, standing up in the process. “You seem like a cool guy, so I’m pretty sure things will work out with the school.”

Lily sighed from her spot to my left. “He does know what kind of school this is, right?” she muttered. “He’s going to be completely useless to our class.”

James turned on her faster than I could blink, pointing a finger at her menacingly. “Shut it you!” he growled. There was a fire in his eyes, so intense, that Lily shrank back in her chair. The rest of the group watched the scene before them with bemusement, making no move to stop them.

I had to admit, Lily’s words hurt when she spoke them so bluntly. But they were true. I was useless to them in terms of fighting. I was just a scared kid, running to the safety that was this school. Although James was on my side, I had to put a stop to their argument. No good would come from this if it continued.

I rose from my seat and placed a hand on James’s shoulder. “It’s fine,” I told him, “Lily is right and I apologize.” I didn’t speak again until he sat back down. “But let’s talk about something else. What about you? What weapon do you use?” By now I had resumed my position in front of the fireplace, not quite certain I belonged on that couch anymore.

It was strange watching James change expressions. One moment he looked ready to kill and the next he’s back to smiling again. I had to wonder if he was really ever angry in the first place.

“I’m going to be the best swordsman there ever was!” James exclaimed happily. He said it in such a cheerful tone that I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. But then the grin slipped from his face and the fire returned to his eyes as he began thinking of something. I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing things correctly. He was an odd character.

I turned to face Rika and asked the same question.

“Nunchaku!” she exclaimed, throwing her fists up into the air and giggling like a schoolgirl. Scratch that, they’re both odd.

“How about you Sonia?” I had to call her name because her face was still buried in her book. She placed the book on her lap and mimed drawing a bowstring and letting an arrow loose. Then she began reading again.

“Right,” I muttered. I remembered from when James had introduced everybody, I just wanted to see if I could get her to speak again. It didn’t work.

“Lily?” I wasn’t expecting an answer from her, but she decided to surprise me.

“A rapier.” Her answer was simple and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, as if daring me to ask another question.

Instead, I turned toward Cody.

“Like James said,” he answered, “I’m much better with the tech work. But if it comes down to it, I use tonfa.” I nodded to him and asked Scott, who was next.

“I don’t need a weapon,” Scott told me, “I only need my fists.” He flexed his muscles for emphasis, which really wasn’t necessary.

“How about you?” I questioned Michelle, the only person yet to answer.

She shrugged at my question, a coy smile on her face.

“… Huh?” was my response.

“On paper she’s listed as someone who uses a quarterstaff,” James, who had decided to join the real world again, answered for her. “But I’ve never seen her use one. She fights with just about every weapon you could think of.”

“I see…,” I muttered. Unconsciously I had taken note of everybody’s answers, filing them away for later use. “Well, I should probably go finish unpacking. It was nice meeting you all.”

They gave me their goodbyes, except for Lily who ignored me, and I went back to my room.

When I had finished sorting through all of my stuff, the room had hardly changed. I didn’t own many possessions except for a few books placed on the bookshelf, and the alarm clock on top of the desk. But all of that hardly bothered me since I actually had a place I could call home. It was a place that was mine and that was all I needed to feel content.

Of course, it wasn’t just mine. There were the other students at the Pryce dorm that were also here. This school let in some interesting characters, although I really shouldn’t be the one to talk. For the most part they accepted me, but there was still that barrier of trust that I needed to get through. They were all friends with each other, just not with me. I had to do something to gain that, it wasn’t something that was just going to be given to me.

It was difficult to read what they were thinking, well, except for Scott and Lily. Scott just didn’t really care, and Lily doesn’t like change. The others were an entirely different story.

James had a personality that jumped all over the place. He was easy to get along with but he’s the kind of person you call a “free spirit”. He does what he wants on a whim, and I can’t place what those feelings of his even are.

Cody seems to just be a humble person. He keeps saying that he isn’t a good fighter, but he’s attending Eliwen Academy. I don’t know whether he’s telling the truth about that or not.

The two sisters interest me as well. I don’t know much about either, really. They didn’t talk much. From what I could tell, Sonia is the kind of person who’s very perceptive. She doesn’t speak, but observes everything going on around her. I feel like she prefers action over words. Her sister, Rika seems to have a strong personality, but I’m just going with what I saw with her and James. I just don’t know.

And then there’s Michelle. The way she carries herself makes me think that she’s hiding something from me. Or that she knows something I don’t feel comfortable sharing. I get the feeling that she’s the strongest out of all the students here, maybe even the whole school. James says she can use any weapon; it’s something that I hadn’t heard before. Yet there’s this feeling that makes me believe it. She’s almost as much of a mystery as headmaster Mikahliss.

Or maybe I’m just reading into everything too much.

My analysis of everybody left me thinking late into the night. I had a lot of questions with answers I needed to figure out as time goes on. I assumed it would be best to just let things fall into place on their own. After all, I’m the new guy.

I stood up, turned off the lights, drew the curtains shut, and fell back on the bed to get some sleep. I had school tomorrow.

Author's Note

I'm not very good at writing introductory chapters, but that's just me. Too much description, not enough plot.

Reviews

[Requiem]

It's not bad; well written for an introductory chapter. You explained who he was, where he was, how he got there, and all the necessities. :) You also did a good job of introducing everyone.

I felt as those James' personality was a little too up & down, but it's difficult to gauge that on such a short passage, so we'll see how it goes later on.

I cannot wait to read the rest. Keep it up.