The Empire

Desmond called the battalion to order, not that Alpha ever really got out of position, Artemis had been rather firm as the other companies had begun to disperse, “Stay right where you are, Cadets, I’ll bet you all three laps that this isn’t over.” Daniel turned to his unit and sighed at that telling them that yes he was serious.

Of course it wasn’t’ long before the Colonel was proven correct, as the General stepped forward. Artemis couldn’t help but smirk as the commentary began. Daniel stepped out of his position to stand beside the commander as he watched the General speak, “Seems he’s in a rare mood about this. He’s taking it seriously.” Daniel looked to Artemis for his reaction, “You think that this will be enough though, to prevent bloodshed?”

“Hmph.” Artemis didn’t looked over, “Don’t even try to push that optimistic crap on me, Daniel… Every year there are hundreds of injuries in training and challenges, and even during a regular year at least a half a dozen cadets don’t make it home… that is the risk we of Archon Academy face.” He breathed in heavily as the General went on a stroll around the stage, “however, with this Rite that number is only going to grow.”

Daniel was visibly uncomfortable with the conversation but made an attempt to reply, “I’d think that the General has more in mind than just some speech and tighter enforcement on the use of training weapons.”

“No doubt… he’s counting on us, Daniel,” Artemis never dropped his mantle of leadership however he still managed to soften while remaining a statue of granite, “we’re the strong of this school, and the brave, so it is our duty to protect those we command. I told you that half a dozen die… but I have no intention of allowing a single one of our cadets add to that tally.”

“So… is there a reason you always act like a hard ass when you’re really a big softy?”

“I don’t know, is there a reason you go around flashing women and breaking all codes of conduct while on the parade field by moving out of place?”

“Touché!” Daniel swiftly returned to his place just as the General finished his speech, hearing him make the declaration against the use of the Rite as assault or murder, so he’s seriously going to try to patch this wound like that? whatever, it’s not like the sanity of the plan decided if I’ll be loyal, he contemplated to himself, My loyalty isn’t so shaky as that, Desmond, if you take the hardest path then I’ll just have to bring my hiking boots.

As the General dismissed the companies Artemis called to Delryn, “Command Sergeant Major, take the company back to the dorm please. Get them into their training gear”

“Training gear? Why?” Daniel called out.

“Isn’t it obvious, you all owe me three laps!” he called out loud enough fro the company to hear.

“Whaaaa!?” Caspian exclaimed.

"Welcome to Archon Kid..." Daniel commented while his face fell.

GM Post

It’s been nine days since the announcement at the entrance ceremony put the whole school on edge, and the nation was still frozen in mourning. However while the country took a week to honor their beloved Emperor no such rest was found for the students of Archon Academy. There had been an incredible number of challenges for the Rite, all made by the younger students who had so much to prove. It was a miracle that no one had been killed yet, or perhaps it was the strictly enforced laws that had been established for within the school. Training rounds were standard at all times, of course, however recently all fire arms had to be loaded with low velocity training rounds, which were even weaker, much to the dismay of a large number of students complaining that the law made their Rite so much harder. But with the rules against the use of any spells higher than third class level being used things were just as limited for the magus students at the academy, and swords were required to be unsharpened period.

But these rules only stood for a limited amount of time, three weeks to be exact, so the time of relative peace was drawing to its inevitable close. In that time the students of Alpha Company had had far few challenges issued and even fewer students withdrawing from the unit. Not form the unit’s members lack of desire but from the fact that their Commander was running them ragged! On that particular morning they were all to awaken and dress in their training uniforms (again) before taking the customary two lap morning run individually and heading over to the magic field. That day’s lesson was to be taught by the platoon leaders though so at least they didn’t have to worry about the Colonel making them run laps or do push-ups or squats after forcing them into one of his ill sided bets. Sure if he lost a bet for three laps they each only had to run three, while he’d have to run three for each of the company, however trouble was he never seemed to lose the bets. They were going to be working on some basic combat magic that day though, so maybe it would at least be interesting.

"Run!" He yelled. The distress in his tone was obvious, yet he wanted to escape. He took all he had to escape this horrifying place. But, it was all to waste. Two soldiers, stood in horror, their legs shaking unbelievably fast, sweats streamed down their face. "No! Don't stand there! He'll get you!" He yelled, his arms reaching for the two cadet in horror, but suddenly, a large gushed of blood splatted onto his face. His eyes mimicking the two cadets, whose head was sliced and their lower half missing the torso. This time, it was his legs shaking. It was him sweating buckets and more importantly, he was the next to become the victim of the two cadet whose fate was met but his legs just wouldn't move. No matter how much he told his legs to move, it's just standing there, shaking crazily, until a dark figure covered his shadow. His blade fell to the ground, his hands doing the same movement his legs were doing. The figure closed in onto him, the shaped reflecting in his eyes, and with the scream of the young sergeant, blood splatted.

---

A titled that looked as if the pen used too much ink, and the ink just continued running down the words written. 'Death Awaits' was what the title wrote. A lone dark room, and a Rey sitting close to the screen was seen. He hugged his pillow very tightly, and his eyes obviously locked onto the movie, and when it ended, the lights went back up. He stretched his whole body, throwing the pillow as a result. It landed on his bed perfectly, as Rey closed the TV and yawned. The battles outside seemed as if it never interrupted him. "Well, another movie watched." He said, as he landed on his pillow, eyes quickly closing. "Another.... 5.... more... to... go.."

Suna

it has been little more than a week since the entrance ceremony. the colonel had been making them do all kinds of things for physical fitness though she wasnt bothered by it much as it was relativley easy for her and those who were Guardians but she couldnt say the same for those who were Magnus with a few exceptions in the Alpha Company. letting out a sigh like always she got up a few hours earlier than needed but she liked to get in her own excersises in her dorm room. Most people would be shocked that a girl as slender as her could manage to do so much without breaking a sweat until an hour in or so in her routine. it was already 6 in the morning by the time Suna finished her routine and showered.

looking at the clock she visibly frowned "i took longer than i thought" which seemed to startle an officer who had passd by her room which was opened. Suna simply stared back at the officer before he looked away a blush on his face as he walked away. shrugging she put on her training uniform, though she would have preferred her normal attire since they were going to be doing some basic magic training today so hopfully itd be more interesting than what they had been doing the past 9 days. {'i wonder how Mother is doing'} Suna thought picking up one of the few things she had that personalized her room. a photo of her Mother in full uniform with a serious look on her face. "stay safe Mother"a hint of worry in her otherwise monotone voice. making sure all her things were in the right place so her shawl wouldnt slip while she trained. Suna grabbed some thick bandages wrapping her hands all the way up to elbow making sure to place her anklets on her wrists. standing up straight Suna glanced at the photo once more before she fixed up her room then left for the cafeteria for breakfast

Rallen found himself in the cafeteria for one of the very few times he decided to eat on campus. He stood just shy of the line of Cadets awaiting their daily meal prepared by the schools chefs. He held his hand to his chin as he peered threw the crows and looking at what the school would call a meal. They darted back and forth over all of what was on displayed not real sure what the difference between any of it was aside from the color. As usual he stuck out in the crowd as he always did as if his hair and eyes weren’t a giveaway the gantlet he always had on his left hand was the deal breaker. He simply stood there looking over the food for a few moments before he let out a shrug and stepped into line a few questioning eyes washing over him.

He waited rather impatiently to finally reach the food his foot taping the whole way until at long last he got a plate and went down the line watching the food plop down on his plate sloppily. He put a frown on his face as he came out of line with what food was on his plate. He quickly grabbed a table where it was relatively empty and took a seat. He didn’t touch the food but instead just sat there looking over it trying to come up with what would be the best way to actually eat this junk.

Suna

Suna for a while wondered the halls until reaching the doors that led to the cafeteria. opening them she saw that quite a few people were there already and simply walked over to the line and grabbed a plate. she never ate the food here before but because of Mothers advice to try something new set. it was either be more social with people or eat the food and Suna chose the latter. waiting in line wasnt much of a problem but she was a bit bothered by the glob of food one of the chefs laid out on her tray.

finally getting out of line her gaze drifted over the top of the cadets heads within the crowd of tables, upon seeing a shock of white hair similar to hers, Suna headed in the general direction noticing the stares she got as people noticed the strangely out of place young man walk towards another out of place young man. how Suna knew they thought she was a guy, was simple Suna was well aware that she wasnt exactly the most femine of females. her messy hair and emotionless expression only added to that or simply because she could easily read them like an open book their body language said it all. weaving around people she stopped at the head of the table, realizing that it was Rallen who sat before her. {'he's in Rey's squad if im correct'} a flash of reginiztion came briefly before it was replaced by her usual expression and now for the hard part "may i sit here?" looking down at Rallen her pale red eyes seemed to look right past him.

Rallen peered up at Suno seeing her pear past him. He turned around to see if there was some one else there not as a sign it was strange some one was talking to him but to see if it was really him. He turned back to Suna and gave her a light smile. A friendly face, or at least more or less, was a nice change of pace. He took a quick moment to measure what the odds of a challenge coming from her would be. Same rank higher post so nothing to gain by challenging him. He gave a quick subconscious nod and spoke out. “Ya sure its Suna right? From the train?” From what he remembered Suna wasn’t the most social person in the world but it’s not like he’s had to many chances to actually talk to any even with in his own squad. Much like the rest of the company had been running raged with the rest of them. He motioned for Suna to take a seat.

He grabbed a fork with his right hand and started to dig into the food though he wasn’t really aware he was doing it as he started speaking up. “How you been holding up? No one bugging you about this challenging nonsense I hope?” he took a quick bite from the questionable meal not even tasting it. “You haven’t been trying to take advantage of this whole mess I hope.” He said with a frown the thought crossing his mind that Suno could be one of the many people wanting the crown out of greed. If that was the case he knew at some point he’d have to fight Suno a thought that wasn’t well settled in his mind.

Suna

with a slight nod to confirm it was indeed her she sat down across from watching as he ate his meal then looked at hers before finally taking a bite. and within moments she was bombarded with questions her eyes widened a bit at the though of having to answer them all as she still and probably never will speak more than a few sentences for a short period of time. Suna noted the fact that he frowned while looking at her and from her guess he thought she came to challenge him but quickly pushed it aside as she knew Rallen was a smart kid.

Suna titled her head a little to the side as she thought of the easiest way to answer and simply said "im fine and no" taking another bite of her food before a look of disgust flashed across her face and was gone, replaced by the same facial expression as before and pushed the her tray to the side 'ill just eat something later' letting out a small sigh.

Rallen blinked at her reaction to the food and let out a laugh. “Sorry sorry just not use to you having an expression!” It put a smile on his face to say the least. He turned back to his own food and poked it a few times. “Don’t put much into it do they?” he said with a sigh. “I’ll probably just end up find another way to actually get food. But for now.” He quickly took another bite of the food just trying to force his way through what remained on his plate. “You know I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” He put down his fork and reached up tugging on his own hair gently. “Your hair, is it dyed or what?” He only asked due to the fact that white hair wasn’t the most common thing in the world. He turned back down to his food and poked at it a bit with his fork before taking another bite awaiting her answer with curiosity.

Suna

once more he asked her another question, she didn't quite understand how it was funny, her showing an expression but then she didn't understand a lot of things as she never laughed before but once. it took a few minutes for Suna to some up with an answer and she finally got it when she remember what Mother h[told her. "I was found in a Nul-Zone my hair bleached white and wrapped in bandages since I was hurt for some reason, I have no memory of my time before Mother found me but she thinks it was because whoever wrapped my wounds must have died and I was traumatized by it so my hair turned white from stress but that's just a theory" looking back at him to see if he would answer any more questions. already she was getting tired from talking and fixing her shawl so to cover much of her head as she rested her head on her arms on the table. Suna hoped he didn't asked her anymore questions but she will answer them if Rallen asked either with a simple yes or no.

Rey laid down onto a wide plain grassy land, covered by a wide and never ending blue sky. The wind breezed across his cheeks, and his coat crushed against the wind. The pleasure on his face was undeniable, even if Rey tried to fight back, the feeling of enjoying this breeze and watching this peaceful view strongly suggest that he relax. It was as if the Military and training never happened in his life, as if the death of the Emperor never bothered him, well, it never did, anyway. It was then, the peaceful view was suddenly destroyed by something dreadful. A giant blade suddenly emerged from the ground, as the once blue skies was suddenly changed into a chaotic red sky. The land below suddenly cracked opened, and Rey, inevitably dropped onto the black void.

---

While it was just a dream, it was still very real to him. He brushed his teeth in the morning, got into shower, and managed to fold his bed sheet properly. This time. "You won't make me fail again, sheet." He pointed at the sheet. He always had troubled folding sheets. it was only recently he managed to fold sheets properly. If he doesn't, well, he'll just cover the bed with the sheet. Amazingly, he got into his uniform rather fast. It was as if he stopped time in order to get into uniform quickly, but hey, he ain't one of those Magus that can does all those wacky magic things that they do. He's just a plain Guardian, like all other people.

He approached the cafeteria, his morning hair still up, and the urge to sleep more kicked in. Just as when he opened the door, his yawned boomed the entire room. Well, he felt good after that, but the attention he attracted wasn't really that much of a help. Some saluted to him, some beamed their eyes at him and some just ignored him deliberately. He laughed nervously, telling the cadets in his squad to calm down and go on with their food. They did what he said, and went on. The others who obviously wanted to challenge him was swiftly assaulted by him. Although he never meant any harm. The plates on their hands were flipped and the food on it were splatted onto their squeaky clean uniforms, and obviously, they knew who did it, although the perpetrator just shrugged it off with another gigantic yawn.

On his way, his saw one of the cadet in his platoon; Rallen. Since he had nothing to do now, he went to where Rallen was eating his food and sat beside him. Suna, on the opposite of them, were obviously on a different platoon, as since he never saw her on his team. He quickly greeted them and asked them, "What's up, guys and... girls?"

Suna

without moving her head Sunas eyes peeked out from the crook of her elbow to look at Rey asking about their day . Her eyes narrowed when he hesistated with the word girls {'so he still cant figure it out huh oh well'} and sighed at haveing to answer more questions. "my day has been uneventful so far"she spoke in her monotone voice before closing her eyes once more.

Ethelyn was too awake this morning and with the orders that they would in fact being doing Magic training today she was wondering where the hell all of her energy would go today. Her morning work-out was dull and mechanical, her body already adapted back to the usual rigor of school. Sure, she could push herself even harder but that wouldn't make anything easier. She had to keep herself in this standard pattern, waiting to strike when it would matter.

"Branch, how do you just sit there all day rolled over that stick? Hmm?" She questioned the green tree boa as she tied her hair up and adjusted her hat thinking the snake might have some insight on how to rid herself of this dense fog of preparation. She had only participated in one rite challenge thus far, and the inferior cadet ended up with a scratch of stone on his wrist for all to see. Although she was interested in climbing the ranks herself she was not planning on challenging one of her peers any time soon, her style was well known and she needed a new "wow" factor to shock anyone she had faced before in training. Her battle with the foolish cadet was in no way a declaration of her willingness to win the rite, she was just proving that cadets had no right to challenge their elders. However her inpatients was growing and she was beginning to think she might spark a challenge any day now.

"If only you could teach me your ways." Ethelyn sighed and left her room for the dining hall bellow. Not being with the other Lieutenants due to her unfortunate rooming situation was beginning to get on her nerves. She didn't get to see them around the hall and it made communication and friendship maintenance more difficult.

Gathering a tray of the usual food she took her seat in a higher ranked area of the cafeteria, there was no real division as to who could sit where but everyone knew where what group of people sat and usually the other lieutenants would eat here but it appeared she had beaten the rush, as none of the lieutenants she knew particularly well were there.

Being encased of a circle of fire, looking around scared as a child without knowing where he is, worried. As he finally gets up and begins to walk, his mouth opened as if on it's own and starts shouting a foreign word that was muted by the roaring flames around him as far as the eye can see; only a sea of flames as he traverses further in one direction the fire only remains standing strong as he begins to become more confused as he finally sees a silhouette he stops shouting and look straight at it as he gets closer. As he gets closer to finally see who the person is, the figure seems to be a little girl about the age of 12 and another figure holding her up by the neck with a blade in another hand. Shouting again, "_____" more nothingness comes from his mouth she looks at him with such eyes that he couldn't describe, as if she already ascended and preparing for the final judgement, she opens her mouth with a faint sound, and yet he could hear it, "Brother..." The armored knight holds her up higher and with the other blade he impales her right through the chest with the greatsword in his hand. His eye's widen in shock and dismay upon hearing that word looking in his hands as he falls down to his knees. The emptiness in his hands brings him into a despair as he picks himself blinded by rage he charges in.

Karu jumps off his bed early in the morning about 2 hours before training as he wakes up in a cold sweat with a battle-ready stance, he opens his eyes and sees his sword in his hand, a kendo sword that has been modified for his style of swordplay.

"Ugh... The same dream." Karu puts the sword down gently flat, so that it doesn't break anything around if it ever drops. "It's early..." He gets into the shower with his toothbrush in this mouth as he's half awake in the shower still a bit sluggish until the water suddenly gets cold making Karu spit his toothbrush out and jump out of the shower. "Holy shit!" Fully awake Karu goes in and finishes his shower, getting dressed ready for training yet again with an bandage over his eye with the higher-ups getting annoyed with his hair over his left eye and his hair pinned up to the left. Running in autopilot with his morning training, the daily routine was getting too easy even with 5 kg weights applied to each limb and was thinking about adding some more weights to ensure he doesn't fall asleep.

Finishing the morning routine, Karu goes into the cafeteria ordering a set and a slop of food just slowly glomps down to the tray splattering over the plate lightly barely from touching Karu's uniform. Looking around not knowing where to sit, until he finds an empty table and a voice rings in his head, "At least try to make some friends."

"..." Karu reluctantly agrees with this voice in his head and looks at the table with his squad leader Suna and slowly approaches her, "Uhm..." Shyly speaks in a moderate volume but slow, "Do... you mind... If... I... Sit... Here...?" Karu looks at her and looks away, "I-I mean, you don't need to pity me or anything... If you want me to leave or something, I can... It's not a big deal..." Looking back at that table with no one sitting there, it catches her view as Suna looks at the table he's staring at.

Suna

once more she peeked from the crook of her elbow at Karu one of the freshmen in her squad. her eyes slowly took him in proccesing everything about him so to sum it all up he was like her with people but he was actually unsociable were she simply didnt see a reason why she should, talking always made her tired for some reason. Suna looked at the table that Karu was looking back at with a silent longing on his face then back at him. she was already tired enough from talking with Rallen even responding to Reys inquiry on her day so for an answer she simply scooted over to indicate he could sit next to her and watched as he sat down before turning her head so she wasnt looking at them anymore {'too much talking is making me sleepy i do hope he doesnt ask questions as well'} Suna let out a sigh before closing her eyes and thought of the adurous task ahead of her; talking with her squad members and answering her lieutanat she honestly did feel like being sociable but then she never did.

Michale had been awake for hours, the last week had been well exhausting to say the least. He slowly drug himself out of bed at 0600 an hour before his alarm had been set. He had Honestly avoided his roommate Neither having anything to say to the other. at the moment, it didn't seem to help that there schedules seemed to be different or at least that was the appearance of such. After a few moments Michale began to dress in the uniform grabbing his deck of cards and slipping it into his pockets along with a single gold coin. Michale checked his hair combing it slightly so it wasn't a complete unfurled mess and grabbed his Barret as he headed out. His hands never left his pockets as he walked down the hall, Until he finally found his way to the cafeteria he had beaten the rush like usual and this was his preferred way to make eat any ways. He grabbed a couple apples as he spy'ed that lieutenant sitting alone the one who had given him a ride. Michale wasn't one to normally stir up to much but she was after all cute...A bit stuck up but cute. and since she was alone he didnt see any harm in sitting at the same table.

As Michale approached and sat down across from her he gave a small greeting "Good morning Ma'm shame to see you eating by yourself so I figured Id join you." Michale said as he bit into the red apple Fact was he had learned one thing since being here all rank was a footholder unless you were in the SDU, and if you were in that than you stayed as far away as possible.
---
Delryn woke up to his alarm, it was already 0500. He was no slow riser as he stretched and sat up promptly walking into the shower with a shave kit and going through his morning rituals. normally he hadnt bothered to carry his side arms wherever he went but with the rites it was better safe than sorry. a less than lethal round could still kill if it hit something soft enough like an eye or a temple. Once he was done with his morning routine he dressed and slung his riffle. Pausing to look at the second rifle that sat next to it for a moment before continuing.

Delryn moved like a ominous monster through the hallways he almost never smiled and appeared to be all business as he moved through the school until he arrived at the firing range at 0700 He had had arrangements made to take his meal here he shot a full volley every morning over breakfast and then cleaned his weapon and was ready for the days training. Slowly and methodically he loaded his rifle as he looked down range at the pre-set up targets 800m he mentally thought to himself as he made some adjustments set his rifle down took a sip of coffee and a bite of the eggs before snatching the rifle up giving a small sigh and squeezing the trigger. the resounding noise of the round traveled down range as it hit the target Delryn slowly pulled up a pair of binoculars and looked at the target.. a bulls eye Right on target

Ethelyn had been to busy eating and trying to look like she didn't care that she was alone to notice Michale enter the cafeteria. When he approached her table she definitely noticed and argued whether or not she should scarf down her meal and get the hell out of there. Somehow it had gotten around that the punk had beaten her in the card game and won his ride here from her, something she was not proud of. There was no way she was going to risk embarrassment around him again, image was everything to her at this school and she wasn't about to lose again to a first year cadet. She stuck a smile on her face decided to play it cool.

"Thanks Michale" She said as cheery as she could manage. "You sure like apples don't you?" She quickly turned the subject away from her sitting alone and eyed the apples he had gathered for his breakfast. "I saw you getting yelled at for eating one at the opening ceremonies. That sniper from the SDU is a stickler for the rules but I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing." she smirked.

Michale gave a grin as he took another bite wiping his chin with his hand gently. "Breakfast of champions." Michale said as he looked over the young lieutenant then added looking around the room casually. "So your an early bird as well I take it? I guess going to Archon for any length will do that to you if your not already an early bird..." Michale said as he bit into the apple again glancing around then adding. "Yea CSM wasn't to happy about that but than agian I would like to know how any one is supposed to know your not doing something right." Michale finished his apple after a moment and gave a small shrug as he pulled the coin out of his pocket and began to play with it, rolling it over his knuckles as he picked up the next apple.

"Well usually it's a good idea to be a little observant. Didn't you notice you were the only one dumb enough to be eating at one of the most formal ceremonies they have here?" Ethelyn gave Michale a look of disbelief. "Seriously, go find the school rule book, it isn't a light read but you might actually learn something from it, if not just keep up common courtesy." She advised as she looked his uniform over to see if he had forgotten anything. Now that she thought about it, he looked a lot better in uniform than in that ratty thing he had shown up in.

Michale listened to Ethelyn and gave a small nod. "I suppose it wouldent hurt...But I find the unwritten rules to be more Impotent, where I'm from finding a rule book for a prestige school is almost impossible to find. We don't exactly preach those rules where Im from either, so ill learn them on the fly just like you learn the rules of the street." Michale said cheerfully enough as he would catch her eyes. looking over his uniform. looking for something out of place. His uniform was pressed and clean everything measured to near perfection, three or four times over. It fit him better than most others having never owned a good set of cloths Michale treasured the uniform respected it and more impotently wanted it to look as good as it could. and with his sleep lacking he had plenty of time to prep it every night. Michale glanced over hers it was decent enough looking and worn well on her frame. Michale put the coin away after a moment and bit into the next apple. "Well I hope my company wasn't to distracting from your morning duties, I have a living to make this morning and the crowd is starting to pile in..." Michale stood up and went to atenting "Ma'm" He said as he then relaxed pulled his cards out of his pocket and made his way to an empty table.

The light of the rising sun hit the Alpha dorms broadside, the mountains breaking to the east so that the warmth could flow like a river onto the campus. The warm rays that streamed into the upper floors early in the morning were both a blessing and a curse to the occupant of the bed whose rest was suddenly despondent by the lights rather rude interruption of her sleep. Anora slowly cracked her eyes as she groaned against the encroaching consciousness the dawn would bring upon her, cringing and turning her back to the window as she covered her head with the pillow, fighting back in an attempt to maintain her restful state. However it was all in vain. Her eyes slowly creaked open as she looked at the white sheets and pillows she was snuggled so continently into, her mind as scattered as her hair, still not completely understanding where she was. man I’m tired… what time did I get to sleep? she wondered absent mindedly as she stretched out still lying there. But when her arms fully extended still did not leave the bed she stopped, wait, since when was my bed this big? she thought to herself as she sat up on her forearms and glanced about her room.

No… this isn’t my room… in an instant all the memories of the last night came flooding into her mind as she remembered where she was, how she’d come to Artemis’ door in the middle of the night, how she’d fell into his arms, how they’d… they’d… her face turned beat red as she shot bolt upright, holding the sheet close to her with one arm and trying to brush back her hair with the other. Did we? We did didn’t we… Artemis and I… we… Her thoughts were a jumble as she noticed that while she’d just awoken at half past six Artemis was already up, hell he was gone as far as she could see. Did he even try to wake here? Did he just up and leave? I know he’s hard to get close to…but.

“Morning sleepy head.”

The voice cut her thoughts and her face stood shock still, embarrassed at what she had remembered from the last night, embarrassed at how she’d doubted him even for a second, embarrassed at, well, everything! She dove into her hands, hiding her face in the sheets as she stammer out a response, “Oh… uh, morning! Umm… ho-how long have you been up?”

“Eh, about an hour or so, I’ve got some meetings today though so I’m afraid I’ve got to leave in a few minutes.” He said as he rolled the chair he was sitting in back into the office of his suite. Anora slid forward on the bed, wrapping the sheet so as to drape it around her before stepping onto the floor. The area rug tickled her bare feet as she moved to the doorway of the office, leaning against the frame with an irremovable smile on her lips, watching as the Colonel opened another letter and took out the contents, reading it quietly and with little obvious interest. “You just going to sit there watching me?” he asked without turning in his chair, however he did extend his arm, requesting her presence. Anora giggled, shuffling forward and reaching out to take his arm. He spun her around and brought her close, sitting her on his lap as he continued to read the letter. Anora looking around his desk, with papers neatly placed in various locations, not a pin out of place. He placed the correspondence on the desk and turned to look up at her, reaching up and brushing some of her unruly hair behind her ear. “You sure you want to get up? You don’t have to be awake for another hour you know. And besides, you probably didn’t’ get to bed until late.”

She giggled, ‘And whose fault it that?” she asked getting closer to him.

“Oh? Blaming me? Who came to whose door in the middle of the night I wonder?” he leaned in getting a breaths length from her.

She was so close to him now, and just as their lips were about to touch she reached up and pressed her fingers to his mouth, pushing him away slightly, “I’ve still got to brush my teeth.” She commented with a smile before standing again and heading away, much to Artemis’ chagrin, heading toward the bathroom. Artemis turned in his chair, watching her walk away, the sheet draping rather low and making his eye brow reach rather high.

Knock, knock, knock the door opened after a quick three taps, “Hey, Colonel, you here? You told me to repor-” Daniel had come in in his usual happy go lucky attitude and his half-assed uniformed came bursting into the room practically unannounced. And looking right into the face of a very stunned and very scantily ‘dressed’ (if you could call it that) Anora. “Uh… he-hey, Anora, how’s it hangin’?” he asked with a smile and a laugh.

Anora was mortified, her face went form red, to fiery red, to boiling lava red, to… well Daniel didn’t see the next shade of embarrassment as Anora had slammed her fist into his nose, causing him to slam his eyes shut in pain. He vaguely heard her scream something about him being several obscenities all at once but the pain in his nose had him kneeling as she rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

“Smooth move, LT, you have no real courtesy to speak of do you?” Artemis commented, having swiveled around in his chair to look at him with an exasperated gaze.

Daniel rubbed his nose, the pain still keeping his eyes squinted, “Like you have room to talk, you shouldn’t have told me to report to your room if you were going to have company.”

“I didn’t know I was last night.”

“Oh, really?”

“My love life is none of your concern, Daniel, not in the least.” Artemis was being flat and final.

Daniel shrugged; his nose bleeding slightly as he sniffled, “Fair enough. Why did you call me then?”

“Oh, right,” Artemis turned back to his desk and took out an envelope, one tied with a red ribbon, “You and Ethelyn are to take charge of the Company today, you take the Guardian’s and have Ethelyn take the Magus. Training needs to diversify for the alignments. Oh and tell Delryn to start scouting the platoons for potential.” He stood and put a stamp on the envelope before walking over to Daniel and handing it to him, “And this is for Ethelyn, make sure she gets it.”

Daniel looked at the Letter and then to the colonel, “You sure?” Artemis nodded and Daniel smirked, saluting him sharply, “Sir, yes, sir!” and with that he turned around and left the room.

Artemis shut the door again to indicate the man had left. As if on cue Anora emerged from the bathroom, now wrapped in a towel although she had clearly yet to go into the shower, however her hair was slightly more combed. Artemis was grabbing his side arm and beret, however, and while he cast her an apologetic smile, it was clear he was preparing to leave. “Sorry, Anora, I’d love to eat breakfast with you but I’ve a meeting with the Generals.” She came closer, her hands coming to his elbows and sliding up his arms to his shoulders, “Seems Desmond has something important to discuss with me,” he finally gave in and lifted his hands to her side, “And after that I’ve got meeting all day with… with the uh…” Anora looked to her side and reached out, locking the door.

“I know, my job is to handle your schedule…” she reached up and took his beret off, tossing it to the bed, “So I know you’re busy all day…” his hand slid to her waist as she pulled him closer, “But… I also know… you’ve got forty minutes ‘till your meeting.”

“I wanted to get there early.” Artemis commented looking up trying to keep his bearing.

Her head brought his face back toward hers, “Too bad.”

-=-=-=-

“Phew! Never thought I’d see that.” Daniel said as he headed down the corridor on the bottom floor, “Let’s see… Ethelyn or Delryn… Ethelyn is probably in the cafeteria, and knowing Delryn he’s at the range… I should see Ethelyn first, she’s closer, but eh…” he turned right and headed off to the range. Sure enough he found Delyrn firing at the 800m target, watching him form the hillside behind the firing line. He headed down the stairs and took a moment, watching Delyrn’s shots through a seal he formed at his eye.

Another morning began the same, routine dictating that Kai wake up early and begin simple exercises to warm up. Followed by specific exercise depending on the day.One armed push ups a few reps of those would be his shoulder and triceps exercise for the day. The fact he struck lucky and did not have a roommate was a big bonus meant more space for his exercise and himself in general. Though he did need to speak to the officers about one thing in his room, his bed. It was a standard size bed that most dorms had. Problem was Kai still managed not to fit on it properly. Still sleeping rough was nothing new.

Going through the rest of the routine of hitting the showers down the hall, and getting dressed into his training uniform. He made his way down to the last part of the routine, breakfast. He'd always catch breakfast with what seemed the major crowd for it. Walking through the doors into the cafeteria he took his place within the line and waited to be served.

Allowing his eyes to scan the room, he noted people of interest such as his squad leader, his platoon leader and so forth just as points of reference then him planning anything. Though his eyes did scan to see if anyone might be plotting something. The Rite had meant Kai had to fend one or two challenges off. But then again quite a few people have had to deal with those so it was nothing major. But as far as the morning was concern there was only one problem awaiting Kai. Where was he going to sit for breakfast. Normally he did not take long to eat breakfast so he rarely allowing himself to sit in the larger groups of students, since it was much sit down, eat quicker than most, straight off again. Still no matter where he sat, he would make a note to go over a greet his squad mates, that is of course if he managed to get served.

Dark circles shadowed Kayle's bright eyes early that morning morning. He wasn't sure when it became morning, he had been up for hours now, all he got were a few broken naps during the night full of stress nightmares. Between paperwork, meetings, and healing spells Kayle had yet to find himself with any free time. Usually there wouldn't be this many serious injuries so early in the semester, by the time injuries became serious he would have gotten into a rhythm or at least more staff members. With all of the recently graduated students gone and a wave of drop-outs from the rites the infirmary was left under staffed and he was being over worked.

He entered his next patient's room, a Guardian with a shattered right side. The boy was foolish enough to challenge a lieutenant Magus with an affinity with earth. As Kayle examined the injury more closely he found the mark he was expecting, a scratch of grey rock was embedded in the cadet's wrist. Of all lieutenants, it had to be Ethelyn, no wonder the kid was in such awful shape, a guardian of his level probably wasn't even able to touch her as she crushed the entire right side of his body under a rock.

Kayle placed golden seals along the cadet's right side with a large blue seal at his chest, with quick movements Kayle drew out the symbols that would connect the seals and reset the bones. The blue seal began to glow as Kayle used some of the cadet's energy to fuel the healing process. With the bones in place he moved his hands over the seals, they turned a light blue cooling what must have been excruciating pain. The Cadet's side relaxed as Kayle moved onto the final step of gluing the bone splinters back together. The blue seals turned red as searing hot aura sealed the cracks with a burning sensation, bone regeneration was a bitch, and it took extreme concentration on Kayle's part to keep the bone from melting away or healing the wrong way.

He managed to pull everything off without a hitch and in 20 minutes no less no more. The Cadet was squirming and complaining and the complaints went right over Kayle's head.

"Maybe you should pick on people at your level or not at all. Clearly you're not emperor material so find someone who is and support them, or better yet ignore the right and be a good boy, if I see you in here again I don't know if the healing job will go as smoothly." Kayle taunted and left the room without letting the cadet respond. He went directly to his office from there to deal with some quick paper work before moving on to the meetings for the day.

A hazel haired girl was making her way through the gates of Archon Academy. She exuded a calm professional air and didn't slow her stride at all when the guards stood in her way, asking for clearance. Instead, she showed them the letter with the Headmaster's crest on it. Instantly, they parted for her.

Slowly tracing her way through the large academy, she glanced around, taking in the rising sun and the way it reflected the morning dew on the greenery around. Morning. The newcomers must've had their briefing yesterday and having breakfast now. She was a little hungry, true... but the mission came first. Walking around, she ended up getting lost several times.

"...I'm lost..." the girl sighed, before going in search of the Headmaster's office again.

Eventually, she found it. After a decisive moment, she knocked the door, awaiting the permission to enter.





Elphida was dressed in her training attire, once again, the pants were fashioned in a way that they were like hakamas, with her knee high boots underneath. It felt far more soothing, cool due to the breeze, and definitely less irritating that having to stuff the pants into her boots. She stood in line, waiting for her food. Once the unappetizing gunk was slapped onto her dish... she just walked off immediately, not bothering to get the rest of the so called 'food', in the cafeteria.

'Seriously...how do they expect us to eat this when it looks like THIS?' she questioned herself as she sat down in a lone table and used a fork to prod and lift the sticky food up. She looked rather unapproachable, or at least she hoped she looked intimidating enough with her stormy grey eyes and permanent, but tiring frown, so that no one would come up to her, try to challenge her, talk with her and find out her weakness, things like that.

With a small sigh, she jabbed a small portion into her mouth and chewed...or at least tried to. It was just goop and trying to chew was like trying to bite into water... something to that effect. So she ended up just swallowing it and then playing around with the food, pushing it all over the dish.

...And then eating it again.

Karu smiles softly, yet warmly as he takes the seat next to Suna. Placing his tray down on the table he looks at the tray as he speaks to her, "T-thank you." Shyly, he pokes the pile of slop just mindlessly focusing on it, it twitches and Karu over-reacts and throws the fork into the slop, "T-that thing just moved!" Giving him a mini heart attack he slowly pushes the tray away. "I wasn't hungry anyways..." Looking over to Suna, "S-Sorry... I just... don't... know what... to do in... these... situations..."