~The Essence of Life~

“Human beings… They preach of peace yet they continue to fight amongst themselves and others for idiotic reasons.”

Continuous gunfire echoed throughout the cold night. Flames were ignited at various houses, burning them to the ground; the men watched in joy as the fires engulfed each of the homes.

“They preach of equality, yet no two men on this planet are of equal status unless they live under dirt! When one man commits sin there is always another who atones for it! Using hands God has given them, they create tools of murder to harm one another.”

Running footsteps treaded against the dirt, maneuvering over debris. The soldiers gave chase to the fleeing woman and cornered her near the remains of some building. She cowered in fear, holding her baby tightly. A slight shriek left her mouth when the bullets began to penetrate her flesh. The men continued firing upon the mother and her child even after they had fallen into their own puddle of blood.

“They even go as far as to try and act like God in their attempts of creating new life. Humans are unaware of just how illogical their behavior is! All humans are the same!!”

A couple men began to fight back against the armed soldiers. They were no match, and immediately killed without hesitation.

“History tells us of the tragic events recurring time and time again, yet generation after generation humans continue to ignore the fact that the path they lead down is one of destruction.”

A group of the soldiers rallied around a tall building; it was the only in the area that was still standing. The men began to fire upon the building with their guns. Glass shattered all over, raining steadily to the ground. Some of the soldiers began to throw small explosives in through the windows. They laughed as a young couple from near the top floor glanced out the window. A blue-haired woman began to cry in the arms of her husband. The soldiers then proceeded to set the building ablaze.

“My brothers and sisters, we will rid the world of the evil that has plagued the Earth since the beginning of creation. We are the next stage of humanity’s evolution. For our purpose to be realized, mankind must reform… Human beings are flawed creatures as they exist now. We are God’s true intention of what human beings should be!!! We are perfection…”

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“Wake up Lukas!!!”

The boy immediately shot up from his bed from the freezing cold water that had suddenly smacked him in the face. “What the hell Zayn?!” He yelled as he wiped the liquid from his face.

“Hurry your ass up Lukas. We gotta work out before school.” Zayn smirked as he placed the empty glass on Lukas’s desk.

“How the hell did you get into my room?” Lukas snarled, sitting up. The water had soaked him from his jet black hair down to his chest.

“Your mom let me in as she was headed to work. C’mon, move your ass along!”

“Damn that woman…” Lukas sighed as he continued rubbing the morning crust from his eyes. “You could have woke me up like a normal human being…” He quietly groaned.

“Psh, yeah right. You never get up early.” Zayn replied as he headed for Lukas’s door. “I’ll meet you outside. Today we get to take Advanced Rei-Ki 207, the only important class this year. I wanna make sure I’m ready.”

Lukas threw the quilt off his lap and headed to his closet to get ready. “Okay, okay…”

Today was the first day of the school year at South Frelia High School. Over a thousand other students also had to be up earlier than usual to prepare for their first day; although, the sun had barely just begun to rise and Lukas was already forced out of bed by one of his friends.

The neighborhood was fairly quiet; average houses lined both sides of the street and stretched far down the road, each lawn filled with bright green, dew coated grass. While the neighborhood was a suburb, the city-state Lukas lived in, Frelia, was a rather populated one within the kingdom of Satala.

Though still rather early, the weather outside was phenomenal for a number of activities. A gentle breeze wisped through Lukas’s hair as he stepped outside his house wearing his workout clothes. The young man watched his friend Zayn stretching on his lawn before their workout.

“About time…” Zayn said when he noticed Lukas step out the door. “I’ve been training all summer. You’re not gonna beat me that easily.”

“You sure this is smart?” Lukas yawned, covering his mouth. He walked onto the grassy lawn in front of Zayn. “I don’t want you going to school with a black eye on the first day.”

“Hah! Like I’m gonna let you give me a black eye!” Zayn charged toward Lukas throwing a fist aimed right for his face.

Lukas easily evaded the blow, simply moving his head out the way. He grabbed his friend by the arm and swiftly pulled him closer. As Zayn fell closer to Lukas, Lukas rammed his knee hard into Zayn’s stomach.

The stunned boy dropped to ground while holding his stomach. “Ack, damn…” Zayn coughed out.

“Haha c’mon, let’s get this over with.” He chuckled, helping Zayn to his feet. The two positioned themselves a bit from each other once again. They then leapt for one another, continuing their brawl for a good while.

The sun was now right above their heads; they had been sparring with each other for quite a while now. Sweat ran down the side of the boys’ faces as they exchanged punches and kicks, though both blocked most attacks from one another. After about an hour the two were finished with their exercise and decided to get ready for school. Zayn had run to his home down the road to get ready.

After showering and dressing himself, Lukas stepped out his home again and walked down the sidewalk to school. He wore the school’s uniform which consisted of black academy torso with a golden tie tucked neatly under his light coat; the long pants he wore were black as well.

Lukas stood outside another home for a moment until his friend Zayn came running out from it. He also wore the same uniform, but for some reason held a small bag of frozen peas to his eye.

“I told you sparring before school was a stupid idea.” Lukas said as they continued walking down the sidewalk.

Zayn lowered the cold bag from his bruised eye for a moment. “Screw you… How the hell am I supposed to flirt with all the cute new girls now?”

"I can make your other eye black so you at least look symmetrical.”

“Haha, no thanks…”

The two finally reached the front entrance of the school. Hundreds of other students were outside the school buildings, talking with friends they hadn’t seen in months. Some were just waiting for more friends to arrive while others tried putting off having to start their first day of classes as much as possible. The school was very large, consisting of three separate buildings on the campus, each holding different kinds of classes. The building to the left of the other two was particularly large being the gymnasium. The other two buildings were four stories high, and were fairly close to each other.

“What about that one?” Zayn pointed to some female student walking off. He and Lukas continued past the school gates, headed for one of the tall buildings.

Lukas sighed, “I don’t know… She’s too far.”

“What? Okay, how about this one.” Zayn subtly gestured to a male underclassman as they passed the student.

“Nervous.” Lukas replied. “Must be a freshman.”

“Psh, I could have told you that without sensing his Rei-Ki.”

“Okay then smartass, take a look at that girl.” Lukas nodded toward a student simply standing at the stairs of the building he and Zayn were heading into.

Zayn glanced back at her, observing the girl before the two entered inside the building. He still had the frozen bag of peas up against one of his eyes. “She seemed a bit excited… I think. I mean, she looked kinda happy.”

“Wrong. She was actually terrified; frightened about something, probably something trivial about school.”

“Fine, sensing Rei-Ki is more accurate. Happy?”

“I’m not sensing Rei-Ki; I’m sensing their emotions emitted through their Rei-Ki. It’s a useless skill though.” Lukas replied as the two turned the corner of the hallway. “To be honest, I don’t know why I can…”

“Lukas! Zayn!”

The two boys turned back around to see a girl running toward them. She was very beautiful, wearing the same uniform as all the other students; the females, however, wore skirts instead of pants.

“Hey you two!” The loud girl exclaimed. “How’s it been?! We haven’t been in school in like forever!!!”

“Yea, I’m glad we’re all in the same homeroom.” Lukas answered, smiling at his friend. “How’ve you been Vanessa?”

Vanessa threw an eccentric thumbs-up in front of the boy’s face. “You know me; super as always! I see you two were sparring again.” She grinned at Zayn, poking the cold bag to his eyes.

“Shut up!”

Lukas continued walking down the hallway to their class and the other two quickly followed behind. Homeroom was about to start soon, evident by the amount of students entering the room. The class was nearly full, with about thirty students either in their seats or standing around; a typical scene before the first day of class.

The three proceeded in through the door when suddenly a girl shrieked, “Ew!! It’s icky!!”

Before Lukas could take another step, someone unexpectedly fell to the ground right at his feet. Lukas noted the boy didn’t have his shirt tucked in as he stood to his feet.

“My first name is Ikki! Ikki damn it!” The boy dramatically shouted out.

“Isn’t that what she said?” Zayn asked as he tossed the now warm bag of peas into the trash bin near the door.

Lukas pressed forward, looking for a good place to sit. “Ben, why the hell do you have to cause such a commotion so early in the morning?” He found one toward the back near a window. The boy tossed his bag to the ground next to the desk as he took his seat.

The redhead rushed to Lukas’s desk slamming a piece of gum down on it. “That bitch! I just tried to talk to some cute girl and her friend had the nerve of calling me ‘icky’!” He then dropped down to his knees. “Mother… Father… what have I done to deserve such a cruel name?!?” Ikki went by his last name, Benjamin, for obvious reasons.

Zayn smacked the back of Ben’s head. “Shut up you moron, you’re making a scene.”

"Ooh, lookie here. I see Lukas kicked your ass again!” Ben mocked as he poked Zayn’s bruise.

“Son of a bitch that hurt!”

The two soon began to wrestle one another, something that must have been normal for the other students not to care. Vanessa simply sighed at the two rolling on the ground. “You guys are pathetic…”

A male teacher soon walked in and everyone quickly took their seats. Vanessa found a seat somewhat close to the door near the front, completely opposite of where Lukas was, and Zayn sat behind her. Ben sat in the same row as they did except he was all the way in the last seat. He took out a stick of gum and popped it in his mouth.

Lukas began to gawk out the window a little after the teacher began speaking. He suddenly noticed something; the boy glanced to the girl sitting in the desk right in front of him. He sensed something from the girl; an emotion. The boy quickly shook it off and redirected his gaze toward the teacher up front.

**************************************************************************************************

“Damn that Zayn…” Lukas muttered to himself through a loud yawn. He walked down the hallway on his own; the school day was already halfway over, and it was now lunch time. “I hate waking up earlier than I need too…”

As he continued down the hallway, out of nowhere, someone abruptly slammed into Lukas.

“Owie! That hurt!” The girl cried out, dropping her books as she fell to the ground.

Unfazed but confused, Lukas quickly bent down to help pick up her books. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yea I’m fine. You should really watch where you’re going.” She whimpered as she quickly got to her feet, rubbing her behind.

Lukas stood up and handed her books with a crooked smile. You ran into me! He thought to himself. “Oh, you’re in my homeroom. You sit right in front of me. Are you new here?”

“I’m surprised you recognized me from back there!” The girl exclaimed with lit eyes, stroking her long, brown hair. “Yea I’m new; my family just moved here last month from another part of Frelia, Isus.”

“Well that sucks; having to complete your last year of high school in a place you have no memories of.”

The girl seemed surprised from the comment. “Uh, yea I guess it does,” she uttered quietly, “but… I think I’ll be fine.”

“You’ve been pretty sad lately.” Lukas stated abruptly. “Why is that?”

“That’s a really weird thing to ask someone you just met.” The girl’s face was red with embarrassment as she walked past Lukas heading down the hall.

Lukas realized his comment made the peppy girl uneasy. He simply shrugged off the unusual encounter and continued down the hall.

“Whoa there you!” Before he could get anywhere, Ben grabbed him into a headlock and pulled him back. “I saw that you little man-whore! Who was that cutie you were talking to just now?!”

“I don’t know. She just bumped into me.” Lukas tried to get out of Ben’s grip but he wouldn’t budge. He could smell the mint gum off of Ben’s breath.

“What?! You mean you were talking to her for more than sixty seconds and you didn’t even manage to get her name?” Ben pressed his face against Lukas’s. “What the hell is wrong with you? Don’t tell me…” Ben blushed as he let go of Lukas and backed up. “Wait y-you’re… gay?! Lukas, how could you do this to me?!”

Lukas smacked the back of Ben’s head. “Quit crying you dumbass! What the hell gave you that idea?”

The two both made their way to the cafeteria. Entering through the large double doors, inside was loud, bustling with students waiting in line to purchase their lunch. Others were sitting at small rectangular tables with chairs surrounding the tables, already eating the lunches they brought from home. The back wall was lined with vending machines that had different drinks, snacks, and even meals in them.

Vanessa and Zayn were already seated a table across from one another and soon Ben and Lukas joined them with their meals.

“You two are going to get fat if you eat junk like that every day.” Zayn said, pointing to the food scattered on their side.

“Hey, that’s a very rude thing to say to a lady!” Vanessa pouted. “Besides, nearly all this crap belongs to this fatass.”

“Who are you two calling fat?!” Ben jumped up and pulled his shirt up to reveal his muscular abs. “I can eat whatever I want and not gain any weight!” His hardy laugh roared through the cafeteria.

“Ew! Ikki’s being icky again!” Some girl shrilled out.

“Who the hell said that?!”

“So you guys ready for this next class?” Zayn asked, tearing into his cold turkey sandwich.

“Advanced Rei-Ki 207!” Vanessa said smiling. “I know you must be with that black eye of yours!”

“Oh shut up…” Zayn grimaced.

“Speaking of classes…” Ben said as he pointed his cheddar cheese stick at Lukas. It wobbled up and down in right front of Lukas’s face. “Lukas met a cute girl when he got out of fourth period.”

Vanessa squealed in excitement. “Huh?! Really Luke?! Tell us about her!!”

Lukas gave Ben a vacant look with his peanut butter and jelly sandwich hanging from the side of his mouth. He slapped the stick of cheese away and continued eating his sandwich. The stick of cheese just started wobbling left to right.

Zayn placed his hands on Lukas’s shoulders, shaking his entire upper body. “Uh-oh, a cute girl? What’s her name?!”

“Dunno.” Lukas replied, still rocking side to side. “I sensed she was really upset over something. I asked her why and she thought I was weird.”

“Well she’s the weird one then!” Vanessa quickly defended him. “Having the ability to sense someone’s emotion through their Rei-Ki is totally badass! You’re the only person I’ve ever met who can do that!”

“Thanks.” Lukas said with a half-smile. “It’s not a big deal but…”

The others noticed Lukas abruptly paused his sentence to glance down. His eyes were glued to the side away from something. They noted a girl walking by the table; she was rather beautiful with magnificent silver hair. She kept her eyes completely straight with a serious expression, holding her lunch tray steadily as she walked off.

Lukas slowly looked back up, slightly embarrassed for some reason.

“It’s been over a year dude…” Zayn quietly said to Lukas. “Don’t you think it’s about time you talk to her?”

The boy ignored his friend, and continued eating his meal.

“Yea man.” Ben added. “Do you plan on talking to her anytime soon?”

“Don’t worry about it…” Lukas calmly replied.

“Lukas, I bet she wants to be friends again.” Vanessa softly insisted. “I’m sure she forgives you for…”

“I said don’t worry about it!” The boy interrupted, this time with a stern, harsh voice.

The others quickly became quite, surprised from Lukas’s sudden outburst. The group continued eating their meal, talking about other unimportant things. Lukas merely sat there, thinking to himself as they all waited for their next class to begin.

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The inside of the gymnasium was huge. Bleachers were set up against each of the four walls, rising nearly all the way to the ceiling. It appeared to be a normal gymnasium with basketball hoops hanging from the ceiling on each end. However, they were raised up, and in the center of the court there was a large arena-like stage. It resembled a boxing ring with no ropes, and was elevated a few feet off the ground.

All of the students were sitting down on the first few rows of bleachers, waiting for their teacher to arrive. A total of about forty students, each of them had on their gym uniforms. The teacher finally walked in, apparently from her office hidden further in the gymnasium. She was young for a teacher, most likely in her mid-twenties, and wore very small black shorts to add to her beauty. Her long white hair fluttered as she jogged toward the students.

All the students were dumbfounded by the teacher they assumed would be a hard going man. “Sorry I’m late students! My name is Misayo. Please to meet you all!” She cheerily said with a beautiful smile.

“Damn she’s hot.” Ben whispered to Zayn, as Ben popped his chewing gum. “She’s got a nice butt.”

“Shut up, dumbass.”

“As you all know, this is Advanced Rei-Ki 207.” The students stood up from their seats as soon as Misayo began talking. “You were all required to take Rei-Ki Training 107 as a prerequisite so you should have the basics perfected. But we will do a bit of review before jumping into things. 107 was merely a lecture class to learn all about Rei-Ki. It was to prepare those students who were tested and found had the skills to take this class. In this class, you will master how to use your Solblade.”

Lukas looked around at the other students. He stood in the front row of the bleachers with Ben next to him. Zayn and Vanessa were in the row behind them, one step up. Everyone began to mumble with one another in excitement about what the class would be like. This might be some fun…

The teacher continued. “To review, Rei-Ki is the internal power that drives the soul of a human. Loosely translated as ‘pure-soul,’ Rei-Ki is the very essence of life, an aura of sorts. For the most part, Rei-Ki can be classified into two different types: Type-S and Type-D. Humans who possess Type-S Rei-Ki have the ability to manifest objects called Solblades. A Solblade will manifest itself once one’s Rei-Ki has stabilized and mature; this does not happen until late puberty, though it is not entirely impossible for a Solblade to be manifested at a younger age.”

“Lukas would know all about that.” Zayn whispered as he playfully tapped the top of Lukas’s head.

“All of you have already manifested your Solblades. Solblades are weapons of great power; the greater one’s Rei-Ki is, the stronger the Solblade will be. Each human has a unique Solblade, but not all humans are able to manifest Solblades. One’s Rei-Ki must be very strong for a Solblade to manifest itself. But there are people who live their lives perfectly fine without the need to manifest a Solblade.”

Misayo began to walk down the row of students as she continued speaking. “The other type is known as Type-D. The ‘S’ in Type-S Rei-Ki stands simply for Solblade, but the ‘D’ in Type-D stands for ‘direct.’ Those with Type-D Rei-Ki cannot manifest a Solblade. However, they can directly manipulate their very Rei-Ki energy to use when fighting. They can use this ability to greatly increase their fighting capabilities. However, people with Type-D Rei-Ki are incredibly rare, so not much is currently known about this type. Though rare, Type-D Rei-Ki users are natural born fighters.”

What the hell is with all the explanations of stuff we already know? Lukas thought. I wonder how mad she’d be if I sat down to take a nap…?

“Anyway, now that we’ve gone over the basics, we can jump right into things.” Misayo’s expression suddenly became serious as she glanced at each individual student one by one.

All of the students straightened out as Misayo began to walk past each one of them standing in the first row. She glared at each of the nervous students she passed.

The teacher reached Lukas, noting he had his hands in his pockets and a calm, relaxed look on his face. What the hell is this? The woman thought as she stared down Lukas. This kid’s Rei-Ki levels are way too low to have a Solblade. Either he’s weak as shit or…

Lukas stared back at the woman with a confused look. He noticed the surprised look on her face. The other students noticed as well. That’s weird, why is she looking at me like that?

“You!!” Misayo pointed directly at Lukas’s face. “Spit out that piece of gum.”

Lukas saw Misayo’s hand unfold in front of his mouth. If you insist…

The students heard a terrifying squeal that sounded like it was from a six year old girl. Misayo was on the ground rapidly rubbing her hand against her tiny shorts. “Ewwwww why would spit that into my hand?!” She sobbed as she tried to sanitize her hand with friction.

“Hey it’s not like my saliva is toxic or anything!” Lukas barked, slightly confused from Misayo’s shift in personality.

Ben grabbed Lukas into a headlock. “Yea! Why would you do that to poor, beautiful Misayo, you jackass!”

“I-I thought she was going to throw it away…” Lukas said somewhat embarrassed. He then broke out of Ben’s grip. “And how is it that I get caught with gum when you’re the one always chewing it?!”

“Me? Gum you say?!” Ben stepped back dramatically. “For me to disrespect the lovely Ms. Misayo… How could you say such a thing?!”

“Eh, you two should calm down.” Zayn suggested with half a smile on his face, standing with Vanessa in the row right behind them.

“Anyway…” Misayo got up now vigorously wiping her hand against her shirt. “How about we begin by showing you all my Solblade?” She slowly lifted her right arm in front of her, with her hand closed. “As you all aware, it is forbidden to materialize one’s Solblade in public areas, unless the situation allows for it. For educational purposes, however, Frelia’s local government has allowed students who take this class to materialize their Solblade in the presence of an instructor; that’d be me.” She then closed her eyes as she opened her hand.

It seemed as if the room suddenly became colder. The students all watched in awe as her clothes began to flutter. It was as if a majestic wind was trying to gently lift her off the ground. Her white hair also began wavering upward, making her look rather angelic.

“Transpire!” Misayo’s eyes immediately opened as something began to quickly take form right in front of her. A brilliant light shined as Rei-Ki energy, millions of tiny particles of light, swirled about the long horizontal pole-shaped object. The light dispersed in a flash and a small shockwave of energy was thrown in all directions from where the teacher was standing; in midair hovered a sheathed katana.

As soon as the light vanished, Misayo grabbed the handle in front of her right hand. The sword was beautiful; the curved blade was sheathed in a pink scabbard.

The students walked down from the bleachers, gathering close around their instructor. “It’s so beautiful.” One of the girls said in admiration. The others began to whisper about how amazing she was materializing her Solblade.

“Wow Misayo you’re incredible!” A boy in the group complimented her.

“Oh stop it, you guys are…” Misayo was interrupted by an abrupt ringing; it was the cellphone in her pocket. Misayo pulled the phone out to check who was calling. She appeared a bit surprised to see the name on her phone. “Sorry class, I really have to take this.” She said, a bit embarrassed as she ran out of the gym. “What is it? He’s been captured?!” Her voice died off as she exited the building.

Lukas, Zayn, Ben, and Vanessa walked back toward the bleachers from the circle of students to sit down while the other classmates continued talking on the basketball court.

“Wonder what that was about…” Lukas said, staring across the court to the doors. “She was a bit dramatic manifesting her Solblade.”

Ben laughed, “Yea, wait til she sees my Solblade. She’ll be so impressed with my amazing powers and my damn good looks that she won’t be able to resist me.”

“Oh please, she’s way too good for you…” Vanessa said. “Do you guys think we’ll have to spar with her?”

“More than likely.”

The group all turned in the direction of the voice to see a girl walking toward them. Lukas stood to his feet, immediately recognizing the girl. “Uh, you’re that girl I bumped into earlier today.” He said.

She nodded, “Yup! Just so you know, you never apologized for knocking me down.”

Lukas chuckled, “I’ll apologize even though you’re the one who ran into me. Though, I don’t even know your…”

“Courtney.” The girl suddenly said. “My name is Courtney Hawkins.”

“Well then I’m sorry Courtney.” Lukas stared at the girl for a moment in confusion as he suddenly noticed something. I don’t feel anything… She’s not nearly as sad as she was before…

“You gonna tell me your name weirdo?”

“Um, it’s Lukas.” He quickly said. “Lukas Elserin.”

Courtney grinned at the boy and then turned to the other three still seated. “Nice to meet you all too!”

“Yea nice to meet you…” Zayn was still a bit confused from her sudden appearance. “My name’s Zayn Everblade. The weird looking guy here is Ikki, but everyone calls him Ben.”

“Nice to meet ya cutie.” Ben said to her with a wink.

Courtney placed her finger on her bottom lip in confusion. “He’s… icky?”

“You did that on purpose!”

“I like you already!” Vanessa quickly got up, patting the new girl’s back. “The name’s Vanessa Natsumi! Pleased to meet ya!”

“T-thanks!” She giggled. Courtney then turned her attention back to Lukas. “So, um, I was wondering… about what you said earlier…”

“Hmm?”

“How did you know? How did you know I’ve been really sad?”

“Well, I can…” Before Lukas could answer, a shout suddenly interrupted him, drawing the attention of everyone toward the center of the court.

“What the fuck did you say to me?!”

The five turned their attention to the other classmates. All of the students backed off the court as the two male students’ argument became more intense.

“You heard me punk! I can beat the shit out of you with my Solblade!!”

“Why you…” The larger student grabbed the other one by his shirt. “I’m gonna make you eat those words.”

The other students appeared confused and slightly frightened, wondering what they should do. The two students quarrelling with each other became more and more aggressive, so no one wanted to intervene.

Zayn quickly stood up and walked to Lukas. “Hey Lukas, we should do something before this gets out of hand.”

“We? Why?” Lukas asked, watching the students continue to argue. “I say let em’ duke it out. I don’t like getting in between other people’s fights.”

“Transpire!” The large student suddenly yelled as his Solblade began to take form. He quickly revealed it to be a large, double-blade sword, nearly the length of his body. “Try not to die kid!” He swung his large blade down but the other student jumped out the way. The sword crashed into the ground, sinking into the wooden court floor.

“Oh yea? Transpire!” The other student’s Solblade quickly took shape as the brilliant specs of light scattered; he grabbed a long spear in midair and charged toward the other classmate. “I’ve got the advantage!”

The larger student blocked it with his great sword. He swung back, sending the other student flying backwards. His feet dragged against the ground as he slammed into the wall. The large student came rushing toward him. “I got you now!” His sword smashed against the wall, nearly striking the student who just fell to the ground unscratched.

“Let’s take this outside!” A hole was made in the wall, just large enough for both of the students to run outside into the field. The other classmates all ran to the wall to see the fight continue. Some of them were laughing in amusement while others worriedly watched. A couple students fled the gymnasium to try and find some teachers to break it up.

“This is getting out of control.” Vanessa ran after the other students as well. Zayn and Ben quickly followed.

“Aren’t you coming?” Courtney asked Lukas right before taking off.

“To watch them fight each other?” He asked her.

“No, to help stop them. What if someone gets hurt?”

“When someone fights, someone else gets hurt. Had no one chased after those student to watch them the only ones who could get hurt would be the two fighting.”

“Tsk… whatever.” Courtney ran off to the hole in the wall and continued outside.

Lukas watched her leave the building until she was out of sight. “Besides…” he quietly said to himself, “Luna always hated when I got into fights…”

The group of students was lined out near a huge field behind the gymnasium. The field didn’t appear to be used for sports because there were huge trees that were scattered about, some nearing the height of the gym building. Courtney ran to the others, who were clustered about with the other classmates.

“This is getting pretty bad.” Ben stated, watching the fight continue.

Zayn began walking toward the two fighting out in the field. “Yea we should stop this…”

“No!” Vanessa grabbed Zayn’s arm. “Y-you might get hurt. Wait for a teacher, a couple students went to go find one.”

All of a sudden, one of the students came flying past the group and slammed against a huge tree. “Damn, you bastard!” The class scattered trying to run away from the fighting area.

The scrawny student rushed passed his other classmates. He jumped high into the air and landed on a tree branch. Kicking off the tree trunk, he propelled himself through the air, his spear aiming straight for his opponent.

The larger student did the same to dodge, grabbing his sword and propelling himself by thrusting off the tree. He landed near three other huge trees all near each other. “Try to dodge this!” With three slashes, he cleanly cut though each of the thick trees, and they all began falling toward the skinny student.

“You dumbass!” Zayn shouted fervently as he watched the trees fall. Many of the classmates were still in the area as the trees began to fall. “Get out of there everyone!!”

All of them began sprinting out of the way. Courtney could barely keep up with the two jumping all over the place before. She heard Zayn’s voice and turned around to see three enormous trees crashing toward her. She froze with fear, her eyes widening in shock as her entire body began to tremble. W-what the… This can’t be happening…

“Courtney get out the way!” Vanessa screamed as the trees came closer to the ground.

From inside the gym, Lukas heard Vanessa's yell as he walked toward the hole in the gym wall. His eyes shot wide open in shock as he saw what was unfolding.

One tree hit the ground, and the sound of the other two quickly followed. The crackling sound of the branches and wood was incredibly loud as the trees fell atop each other. Birds all over in nearby trees flew to the sky, frightened from the roar of the impact as well as the rattling of the ground. The trees that fell were near the center of the field, just far enough from the gymnasium that they didn’t hit the building. Dirt and dust circled all around the trees, making it impossible to see much of anything.

Following the enormous bang was an eerie silence. All the other students slowly approached the trees in complete shock. Everyone was too afraid to speak. Zayn, Vanessa, and Ben simply watched in horror as the other students began speaking to one another. The two panting students stopped fighting now, waiting for the dust to clear.

A silhouette appeared from the thick dust. It started walking toward the other students, slowly becoming clearer and clearer until his face was distinct; it was Lukas. He had an unusually serious expression on his face as he continued walking, and in his arms was Courtney. Her face was dug into his chest as she clung to his shirt. He noticed her hand was still shaking vigorously. Her wavy, brown hair covered most of her face so Lukas couldn’t see it, but tears were rolling down her face.

A sigh of relief could be heard from the entire class as they started talking about Lukas. Zayn, Vanessa, and Ben smiled as they saw their friend walking toward them. They all ran to his side.

“Hey, you okay?!” Ben asked him.

“I’m fine.” He bent down to the ground to place Courtney down. Lukas gently wiped the tears on her face away. “What about you; you okay?”

She just stared at him, her heart beating so fast. “I… I…”

“Look what you did you dumbass! You almost just fucking killed someone!”

“Me?! That was all your fault you son of a bitch!”

Lukas quickly stood up and turned to the arguing students. He began walking toward the two. “You two should put your Solblades away before someone seriously gets hurt.”

“Fuck you prettyboy; just stay outta this!”

“Yea, unless you wanna get your ass kicked too you better…” The large student all of a sudden grunted, dropping his sword as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Lukas’s leg slammed right against him, one stationed firmly on the ground as he swung the other with such incredible speed. The hefty student went flying with incredible force. He slammed so hard against trees that had fallen that they were pushed farther back with him. He fell to the ground with a moan, slamming his face hard into the grass.

Lukas turned to the other student, expressionless and without uttering a word. The others watched as Lukas directed his attention toward his next opponent.

“You bastard! At least fight us with your Solblade!” The student jumped high, rushing straight for Lukas.

“You guys really don’t deserve to see my Solblade…”

The skinny student’s spear was only inches away from Lukas’s face when it stopped in midair. With one hand, Lukas had caught the boy’s Solblade from right behind its spearhead. The student watched in horror as he glanced back at Lukas’s sharp glare. “I-im-impossible…” He uttered out.

Lukas pulled down the spear to his side and it lodged into the ground near his feet, also bringing the student rushing toward the ground. With the same hand that was just on the spear, Lukas slammed his fist into the student’s face, countering the force he was already heading in.

The student went flying and began tumbling all over the ground. He continued for quite some time, sloppily flailing his legs and arms about, but slowly came to a stop. His bruised body lay on the ground unconscious. “Uh… uhhhh…” He tried lifting his head up, but quickly passed out.

The other students were in awe from watching the scene finally come to an end, whispering to one another about him. Lukas slowly made his way back to his friends, ignoring all the whispers of him. Courtney was on her feet now, staring at the boy as he made his way toward them.

A smile spread across his face. “So you okay or not?”

Courtney felt tears were about to explode from her eyes. How did he save me? I know I was being dragged down by the tree, I felt it. So why wasn’t I crushed to death? How did he…

“What the hell happened here?!”

All the students turned to see Misayo with a couple other students and teachers. The teachers ran to the unconscious students’ side. Misayo looked enraged, but equally surprised. She started stomping toward Lukas and the others.

“M-Misayo, I can explain!” Lukas said with a chuckle. “You see, ow! Hey!”

Misayo grabbed him by the ear and pulled him toward her face. “I saw you attack those other students! I’m not sure what’s going on but…”

Courtney suddenly ran in between the two, tears trickling down her face. Misayo let go of Lukas’s ear and he stumbled back. “Y-you can’t punish Lukas! He didn’t do anything wrong!”

Vanessa watched from afar as Courtney tried to explain the situation. “Oh boy, what a mess.”

Zayn was standing right next to her, while Ben was crouched down on the ground in front of the two. “That dumbass…” Zayn rubbed his forehead in frustration.

“You two think he’ll be expelled?” Ben asked, fiddling with the blades of grass on the ground.

“No one was hurt and it was thanks to Lukas.” Vanessa replied. “So hopefully they’ll be forgiving. Plus he didn’t even materialize his Solblade.”

“So none of this was his fault!” Courtney pleaded to Misayo, noting the surprised look still on her face.

“This is ridiculous…” Misayo sighed as she rubbed her head, thinking what to do. “Well, this field is meant for practice fights so trees go falling all the time. Since you didn’t start the fight or damage anything Mr. Elserin I suppose I can let it go this time. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again!!!”

Lukas and Courtney sighed happily in relief. “Right, I’ll be more careful next time.”

Due to the spectacle those hot-headed students caused, class activities were put off for the rest of the period and each student had to explain to a teacher about the situation that occurred. It took the rest of the class period for everyone to tell what happened, and now school was over. All the students were walking in front of the gym, seeing what they could do before heading home. They were now back in their regular school uniforms running about.

“Ugh, that was such a waste of time. Why didn’t we get to do anything?” Ben complained, as he walked alongside Lukas, Zayn, and Vanessa. “You are still gorgeous my Misayo.”

“We would have done something if Lukas didn’t try and kill those two students.” Zayn teased. “Who the hell are you talking to anyway dumbass?”

Ben jumped on his back, wrapping his arms around Zayn’s neck in a chokehold. “My beautiful Misayo you retard.”

Zayn bent down to the ground and flipped Ben over his shoulders onto the ground in front of him. He then proceeded to put Ben into a chokehold. “Why you…”

From behind, Courtney ran to Vanessa’s side as she and Lukas continued walking. “They’re pretty silly.” Courtney looked back at the two wrestling each other.

“Yea they are, but you’ll learn to love em… for the most part.” Vanessa replied with a smile. “We’re really glad you’re okay Courtney. You’re gonna fit really well in our little group!”

In… their group? Courtney seemed flustered at first. She looked at Lukas who was a few feet in front of her. He was pouting from everything that had happened. A smile slowly spread across her face. She looked back up at Vanessa. “Thanks!”

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Courtney was walking home from school by herself. The sun was partially hidden by a white cloud, but peeped out enough to shine the neighborhood in its warmth. The girl reached the front of her home. Her lawn was rather wide, and the grass a very rich green that was recently cut. There were pink roses that lined the side of the lawn adjacent to the driveway.

A young girl came running along the driveway to Courtney. Her pink skirt flapped about, revealing her white panties every other step. “Courtney!”

“Hey Natalie!”

The younger sister dove into Courtney’s belly as she embraced her. The two fell to the ground. “You’re smiling!” Natalie exclaimed with a cute smile on her face.

Courtney didn’t notice it until just now. She blushed, placing her hands against her cheeks. “Oh I guess I am.” She got up and helped her sister to her feet.

“You were really upset that we had to move here. Did you have a good day at school?!” Natalie asked very energetically, barely able to stand still.

“Yea, I think I did.”

“Really?!” Natalie began to twirl in place. She then eccentrically threw her hands in the air shouting, “Yippee! Didn’t I tell you not to worry about your new school?”

Courtney laughed at her sister’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, you sure did.”

Natalie then began to examine Courtney’s face. She placed her hands on her chin, inspecting something. Their faces were about an inch apart. “Hmm…”

Courtney had an uneasy smile on her face. “Eh… is something wrong?”

“You’re happier than I predicted you would be!” Natalie shouted as she stepped back, pointing at Courtney’s face. “The only way for my prediction to be wrong is if a factor I didn’t consider has arisen within the situation.” She sounded more cute than smart, stumbling over her words. “And the only thing that could, huh, gasp!” She nearly tripped over herself stepping back, looking as if she was struck with a revelation of some sort.

“Gasp?”

“You met a boy today!!”

“Eek!” Courtney suddenly squealed in embarrassment. “W-what gave you that idea?!”

“Hah, so I’m right?!” Natalie’s face lit up with delight and curiosity. “Tell me sis! What’s his name?! Is he in the same class as you? Is he cute? Is he hot?! Is he an older guy? Didn’t I tell you not to mess around with old guys! How old is he? Twenty-two? Twenty-three? Forty? When do I get to meet him?! Courtney, stop ignoring me you butt!”

Ignoring Natalie’s constant pestering, Courtney headed toward the front door of her home, tightly holding her bag against her chest. She’s never gonna let me live this down… oh well.

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Author's Note: Thanks for reading Episode 1 of what will be a lengthy novel! Please leave a comment telling me what you think!