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The Legend of Man Book One: Destiny Awaits

Chapter Two: The Pains of Leadership (Part One)

Disclaimer: I had to break each chapter down because some people told me that they were WAY too long (pfft), so each chapter will be divided into three parts.

The morning came fast. Cayaison was the first to get to the food hall, and the others slowly trickled in.

“Cayaison!” a voice shouted from across the room.

They all looked around to see a man running to them.

“Master Freimier says his class will be down on the walls today,” the man said as he bowed and walked away.

“Great,” Cayaison said sarcastically.

“What class is that?” Alixia asked.

“Projection and Projectiles,” Cayaison said while yawning.

He got up and bid them a good morning before heading down to the lower shelf.

“Today’s class we will be projecting an image of ourselves while the rest of the class will try to hit the real person,” Master Freimier said.

The sun was beating down on them. They were wearing their brown robes, which made them twice as hot.

“Remember only to use, the stun spells!” Master Freimier warned. “Anyone using harmful spells will get the same spell sent back to them by me!”

Master Freimier was one of the youngest Master’sMasters. He stood tall and thin, but his beard showed some signs of gray. His hair was dark brown.

“Who will like to go first?” he asked.

One student shot his hand into the sky.

“Enter the maze,” Freimier said.

The student took off running. The walls, as they were called, were just that: a set of many walls raised in different locations to form a short maze.

“Ready!” the student shouted.

“Jacobsien?” Freimier smiled and motioned for him to enter the maze.

There was some commotion, and what sounded like a few smite spells were being fired around. Then there was quiet. The first student came out with a few bruises.

“He got me,” he sounded defeated.

“Who is next?” Freimier asked.

Cayaison smiled, then shot his hand up.

“Anybody?” Freimier asked again.

He knew about the many feuds between Cayaison and Jacobsien. The two of them had gone at it, scorching many of the walls a dark black.

“If I have to come in there after the two of you. Both of you will be going to the infirmary!” Freimier warned.

“Might be worth it,” Cayaison said under his breath.

“Cayaison’s coming in!” Freimier warned.

Cayaison smiled. He took a slow walk through the maze. The last time he came in here after Jacobsien, he had received a dazzler to the head, which made him dizzy. This time, there was nothing. He turned another corner, but still nothing.

Then he saw Jacobsien standing with his back against a wall, looking the other way.

“Nice try!” Cayaison said, quickly turning around. He dodged a smite spell coming for him.

“I knew it would be you!” Jacobsien yelled at him.

“You really thought, I would let you take the top student?” Cayaison laughed.

He wanted to take out some of his anger from yesterday. He knew he couldn’t go to Friidian and fire off a few harmful spells. The next logical choice was Jacobsien.

“You’re a joke!” Jacobsien said through gritted teeth.

Cayaison looked over at his nemesis.

Jacobsien was a few inches taller than Cayaison. Jacobsien always seemed neat and clean-cut compared to Cayaison’s messy look. His dark black hair was clean and never out of place. He was well-built. Not as big as Rameus, not by a long shot.

Most of the women called him handsome. They had also said something was wrong with his eyes. Some people said his eyes always made him look like he was up to something. Even now, they were shifting side to side, looking for weakness.

“You two have three minutes before I come in!” Freimier warned.

“Three minutes?” Cayaison smiled. “Think one of us could defeat the other in that amount of time?”

Jacobsien launched two more smite spells that hit Cayaison.

“Ha!” Jacobsien shouted at Cayaison, lying on the floor. “Now who is the top student!” he gloated at Cayaison.

But Cayaison was smiling.

“My turn!” Cayaison said through gritted teeth.

The image of Cayaison on the floor disappeared. Jacobsien turned around to see Cayaison standing there with his hands glowing. The real Cayaison launched two spells. Jacobsien was too close to dodge. Both attacks hit him hard; he fell to the floor, stunned and unable to move.

“Too easy!” Cayaison knelt, shaking his head. “His down!” Cayaison yelled.

Freimier came in. He looked down at Jacobsien.

“I only used stun spells, like you said,” Cayaison smiled as he walked past the Master.

Freimier touched Jacobsien. The stunning spell wore off.

“Go to the infirmary,” Freimier said. “Looks like you took a hard fall.”

Jacobsien pushed the Master aside; he walked through the rest of the class.

“This isn’t over Cayaison!” he shouted.

“Remember next time more Projections! Fewer Projectiles!” Cayaison shouted at him.

“Cayaison!” Freimier yelled.

“I know,” Cayaison said.

He walked back into the maze.

“Next,” Cayaison smiled.

This time, most of the class raised their hands. They knew Cayaison would go light on them. After class, most of the students gathered around Cayaison as he gave them ideas on how to make better projections.

Master Freimier fumed and walked away.

“Remember Tanier,” Cayaison said. “When you turn a corner, send a projection first. For a split second, you can see what it can. That’s how I got you hiding behind the stone.”

The student smiled and nodded.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a few other classes, Cayaison met up with his friends later that day.

“I heard you sent Jacobsien to the infirmary again,” Alixia scolded.

“I needed to vent some anger,” Cayaison shrugged.

One of Friidian’s assistants came up to them in the hallway.

“Master Friidian would like to see you,” it said, looking at Cayaison.

Cayaison nodded. The others began to follow.

“Just Cayaison,” it said.

“We will be at the usual place,” Violetta reassured him.

Cayaison nodded with a smile. He followed the assistant up the stairs.

“Do you guys, even have names?” Cayaison asked.

The assistant said nothing. They all looked the same, at the same height and build. They wore dark green robes, and to most students, they smelt like ash.

Cayaison entered the room. Friidian was standing on the walkway.

“Leave us,” Friidian said.

The assistant nodded and then walked out of the room. Cayaison listened. Sure enough, the same puffing sound was heard.

“No, I don’t name them,” Friidian said. “They’re extensions of myself,” he said as he descended the stairs.

Cayaison smiled. “We thought as much,” Cayaison said.

“We?” Friidian asked. “Ah yes, your group,” he said, sitting down.

He looked over at Cayaison as he always did.

“Take a seat,” Friidian said.

Cayaison sat. He knew better than to question the Grand Master.

“What do you call yourselves?” Friidian asked.

“We do not call ourselves anything,” Cayaison said honestly.

Friidian nodded. “There was a group like yours within Heavstat, when I was just a student,” Friidian nodded as he sat back in his chair. “I was your age, or a bit younger,” Friidian smiled.

He picked up a parchment and then pushed it over to Cayaison.

“The Dark Ternion?” Cayaison asked as he looked at the parchment.

“The Dark Three!” Friidian said aloud. “Three friends, they did everything together. They even went to the same room at night.”

Friidian stood up.

“They ate together, went to the same classes, shared the same interests. Then,” Friidian said as he stood behind Cayaison.

“They left together, not graduating. They just left stated that they had learned enough, they stated Heavstat had nothing to teach them,” Friidian smiled.

He stood at the front of his table.

“Do you know what happened to them?” he asked Cayaison.

“No Master,” Cayaison said, shaking his head.

“Of course, you do, you have heard of them,” he put out a finger.

“Tiras,” he said as he made a T that hovered in the air. It was made of a golden light. “Toran,” another T that touched the other T at an angle, “Timan,” the other T finished the circle. Then, he drew a circle around all of them.

Cayaison’s face dropped. It was the symbol for the most dangerous Warlocks in all of the known territories.

“The Tribunal?” Cayaison said.

“Exactly!” Friidian shouted.

“Now you see why all groups are watched and accounted for in Heavstat, and why we the Masters have thought of a strict penalty for those that form groups,” Friidian said as he returned to his chair.

“But…” Cayaison said, still staring at the glowing symbol floating above him.

“But you won’t become a group like them?” Friidian said.

Cayaison nodded, still in fear.

“The Master’s at the time thought the same thing They were even told that by those three,” Friidian said as he pointed at the symbol. “Nothing would happen, and that they were just friends.”

Cayaison shook. He had heard of them. Everyone had heard of them.

“Now go,” Friidian said. Remember what I have told you, and think of what your group can do together.”

Cayaison stood up and ran out of the room. He didn’t stop running until he got to the regular place.

“What is it?” Rameus said.

Cayaison was as white as a ghost.

“The Tribunal!” he said.

The others looked around, expecting something.

“They started here!” Cayaison said, sitting down.

After a few moments, Cayaison calmed down. He told them what Friidian had said to him. They all sat on the bench lining the wall of the student quarters hallway.

“I mean, together we are capable of…” Dawain said, but stopped shaking his head.

“A lot!” Alixia finished the sentence. “We all specialize in different magic,” she looked at all of them. “Together we could even be more dangerous than them.”

“But that doesn’t mean….” Rameus said, shaking his head.

They all knew what The Tribunal had done throughout the lands. They were nearly as bad as the Orcs. Even the Orcs themselves feared The Tribunal.

“I need to think,” Cayaison said.

“We all do,” Alixia said.

They all got up and went their separate ways.

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