Chapter 13, Commander Dawn Allen.

Within the dark hallway.

The trio silently followed the male guard in brown uniform till Elias finally broke the fragile silence.

“If I may, I would like to pose a question that has bothered me for a while now?”.

“Go on ahead”. The man replied calmly.

Elias swallowed softly, the mans overly serious expression pressured them, but that didn’t stop Elias from imposing.

“What is the school actually called?, some people call it the military academy for mages while others call it the academy of mages, what is it exactly?”.

The guards expression was still as indifferent as always.

“That’s two questions, but I’ll still answer them both...”.

The footsteps of the guard echoed through the quiet hallway as the trio held their breaths in anticipation, and then finally he began to speak.

“Firstly the schools name isn’t what the masses call it nor does it have any peculiar fancy titles, it’s not reserved to a specific group and the name is simply Academy, and as I said the school isn’t reserved for a small group of elite but it is still intended to raise such a group of individuals, in the Academy they’re both ordinary and mage soldiers though the mages are treated differently from the masses of course... hope that gave you an idea of what to expect once classes start”.

At the later end of he’s answer the guard spoke as if it was a given for Elias to get in.

“Thank you sir, I think I get it now”. Elias assured.

Geoffrey was kinda expecting a cool hidden name but all they got was Academy, even Kuluwa was a little disappointed, but at least now they know what to expect, of course the guard didn’t speak of the second nor third trials details which seemed normal to them as the Academy wouldn’t be the Academy if things got too easy.

“We’re here”.

...

Suddenly the environment brightened up almost completely blinding them, but as they adjusted to the light what they saw before them was a massive space, the place looked like an arena of some sort as they were sits circled around the main stage.

And before them was a small crowd, the people were young, majority as young as Elias and the others.

It seemed like the second trial was about to begin, and the participants have all arrived.

The guard that brought them there simply walked away after accomplishing he’s task.

The group went ahead and joined the larger crowd, they still stayed together as they weren’t familiar with anyone else.

“Whoa, they’re so many different type of people here”. Geoffrey exclaimed.

“Yeah, the empire spent half a century expanding outwards to foreign continents and cultures, so naturally the amount of people here will be equally diverse”.

Kuluwa said calmly, but Elias knew very well she was simply being considerate of vaultarians like Geoffrey and himself, the vaultarian empire, “vault-rose” spent half a century waging war in foreign soil which ended up winning them sixty percent of the world, but with winners came losers, and the losers definitely didn’t have a good time during and after the process.

“You’re from beyond the vaultarian seas right Kuluwa?”. Geoffrey asked, after all they’ve only just met when they were trying to find the academy and ended up becoming instant friends.

Kuluwa frowned lightly, vaultarians simply called all nations beyond their waters as people from beyond the vaultarian seas, which is an incredibly disrespectful foam of address, but Kuluwa didn’t waste her time explaining and simply agreed with him.

“Yeah”.

Elias wanted to interject as he noticed the air around them became thicker, but it was at that moment the voice of a middle aged man rang out through the stage.

“Get in line rabble, keep your heads up this is a military academy not the dumb your parents call home, you there, stop walking like a pregnant bitch and take those steps like a man”.

The man maybe middle aged but he’s voice was still imposing and clear to the group.

They quickly formed ten rows with ten people on each and maintained heavy silence as the middle aged man in black uniform came up to them.

“My name is commander Dawn Allen, And I’ll be your instructor from today henceforth... your group of backwater street rats will be the Academy’s two hundred and sixty fourth mage platoon, well the ones that survive me that is, now what did I say my name was?”.

“Dawn Allen!!!!!!!!!!”. The group yelled out.

“It’s commander Dawn Allen to you brats”. Dawn Allen corrected, before proceeding to explain the process to surviving the academy.

“Now then, unlike regular soldiers you kids will be starting off as officers, and over the course of four years a total of four test will be conducted and if you fail to survive, you’re out, the Academy only keeps the best of the best you hear me”.

“Yes”. The crowd responded uniformly.

“Good, todays test will be a display of what you can do with magic, I don’t care what random bullshit you come up with just blow shit up, my men and I will evaluate on the side lines and if you happen to be more lousy than we expected then you’re out”.

Dawn Allen swung he’s walking stick before heading up to join several other men in black uniform on top a small stage that was prepared before hand.

Commander Dawn Allen looked over the crowd after getting up the stage, stopping for a moment when he met Elias’s gaze but he didn’t make it too obvious and proceeded to finish intimidating the other kids.

“Something wrong Elias”. Kuluwa asked after noticing the questionable expression on Elias’s face.

“Not exactly, But I could had sworn the Commander was observing me for a moment there”.

“Oh really, I thought he was looking at me”. Geoffrey said with he’s usual cheerful smile.

Kuluwa glanced up the stage but didn’t notice anything peculiar, the men in black uniform seemed to be observing everyone.

“You guys are probably just imagining things”.