The Fundamentals Of Battle

The courtyard is quiet as you and your peers arrive from ever side, in the center stands a quiet figure, though they wear baggy, concealing robes you can tell they’re bone thin.

![]https://imgur.com/gallery/tVv5JL6

“We would be doing this in my classroom, but I don’t want your guts smearing my floors” the voice appears to be coming from all around you, or more accurately, within you.

You can hear the voice in your head as if it were your own, shrill and rasping as if each word were a labor in itself.

You can tell your peers are equally unnerved by this display, is this fear tactics? To throw you for a loop? Or is this Professor truly that apathetic to your survival.

“Fortunately for each of you the headmaster has demanded that I teach you methods of self defense before we begin in earnest..” the figure swivels around raising a bony finger to a student.

From where you’re standing you could swear that you see the bleached bone of her digit, but surely it’s a trick of the lights, right?

“You there, I am going to attack you, and you will defend yourself, is that understood?” The phrasing is in form of a question but the tone is anything but.

“When I strike, focus your mana into your arms and focus on how much you don’t want to die…” energy starts to gather into the palm of her hand, the energy coalescing into a rapidly growing ball of flame.

The girl steps back and the energy is cast forth, at blinding speeds, she raises her arms in a **** attempt of defense, preparing for the energy to take her.

But it never does, the ball of flames is cut short of its target by a pair of luminescent blue blades made from her mana.

The swords appear about a foot away from her arms and appear to track her movements, remaining a foot apart from her forearms before vanishing.

“Hm.. adequate, now you will strike me back, or at least attempt it, once again focus your mana into your hands, visualize me, and then release”

The girl still slightly shaken from her last lesson gets into a wide stance, channeling her power before expanding her hands, a small white star forms in her hands before shooting out, trailing towards the Professor in a strange nonsensical ark.

It’s erratic movements are in vain however, as it nears the Professor, she reaches out and simply grabs it, you can see the shimmering white light slowly disappear as she crushes it into her hand, absorbing the energy.

“Well done, now…!” She says addressing the class in its entirety. “You will pair up, find a partner and you will go back and forth, practicing what I have shown you”

And with that the professor skulks to the outskirts of the courtyard, slowly prowling from the shadows, reviewing your performance with a critical eye.

There’s a moment of uncertainty where the students scramble to find a partner, any partner to practice their war magic.

Then, a most surprising individual approaches you, she’s tall, easily double your height, wearing heavy looking armor etched with glowing blue runes.

There face is a strange mix between elegant features belonging to royalty clashing against her braided hair, most commonly present in barbarian tribeswomen.

![]https://imgur.com/gallery/6UvvMcU

Your rather disappointed in yourself seeing as you hadn’t spotted this amazon previously.

And much to your shock, a large sword is strapped to her side, one of the few things that are expressly stated to be contraband!

“You, small one, you will make for a fine partner…” she gives you an appraisal not dissimilar to a farmer inspecting cattle.

“Uh… very well…” you say seeing no better or more interesting option among the class.

Both you and she step to an empty section of the courtyard, beneath a large winding tree.

“I know what you’re thinking, ask me” she’s right, you’re deeply fascinated in how she managed to smuggle a massive sword into the academy.

“Where’d you find a sword?” You ask as you charge energy into your palm, a little white star forming.

“I brought it with me from home, my people hold our weapon as religious talismans, to confiscate it would be tantamount to religious persecution” her voice is steady and calm and she crosses her arms into an X and slices your attack into pieces.

“Huh… are you one of the…” your cut off from your partner who now starts to channel energy into her hands.

“The Raur’Tai? Yes I am, Dremora Dei Aldori, daughter to king Falavar Sid Aldori” her voice takes on a small bit of pride as she speaks of her heritage.

From what little you know of the Raur’Tai they’re from a northern island of warmongers that have long sought to conquer the entirety of the northern archipelago.

“Then what are you doing here? Surely you should be preparing to lead the kingdom.. right?” You say blocking her attack.

“That’s precisely WHY I’m here, my father said he’d finance my training during my exile from the island” her words are filled with a steady kind of determination.

“You were exiled? For what reason…?” It’s like reading a book full of intrigue but in the form of a person.

For a moment she falters, seemingly unsure on wether or not she should tell you.

“Hm… I… don’t think I should, father told me that outsiders wouldn’t be able to understand our traditions… perhaps later…”

You continue on in silence, perplexed as to what she could mean, maybe she’s on some kind of pilgrimage? Obtaining information on the arts of magic before returning home?

Suddenly you hear a faint scream from the other side of the courtyard, looking over you can see someone failed to protect themselves.

Noticing everyone’s eyes on them, their cheeks go red and they start charging power in hopes of getting even.

The ball of energy grows large and larger, quickly growing too large to fit in their hand, several students back up and for a moment chaos breaks loose.

The energy prematurely detonates causing a large explosion of energy and tearing the student to bloody pieces, the explosion expands for a moment before freezing entirely, trapped in a orange bubble that starts to shrink down, compressing the blast and its creator into the size of a marble before being plucked out of the dirt by the professor.

She examines it slowly, turning it over in her fingers before pocketing the little orange marble.

“Incompetence… no place for it in this academy…” she says before turning to its face shrouded by its hood.

“Class is dismissed, I have a new addition to add to my collection..” she says before walking out of the courtyard.

[Gained Blade Ward]

[Gained Star Shard]