Books of Flame

Always in The Shadows

She bolted down the hall. Blood was splattered everywhere and the sound of swords breaking, shields cracking and bows being shot was still being heard in the air. The professors were heavily outnumbered but were fighting steadily. Alivia stopped for a moment and observed the entire battle. She knew that if she entered the battle, she would not come out unharmed. 

She was scared; she took a deep breath and charged at the group of men. The professors quickly saw her but they had bigger problems to deal with. She utilized everything she was taught and swung her sword as hard as she could. She blocked some attacks and tried her best to fight. She flung her sword steadily and dodged attacks. A group of men charged at her with full force. She optimized everything she knew about combat. 

She took a deep breath and dodged the first attack. She struck one of the men near the back of their knee which made a few of them fall down on each other. She was proud of how well she could fight but right as she made them all fall down, more men came at her. She was quickly getting outnumbered. She even got stabbed by one of them. She quickly retreated fleeing to the professors, who were observing the situation, ready to attack. She covered her bleeding by tightening a cloth around the cut area. She struck each one of the men with full force. A few students also joined in the fight. Quickly the men were defeated but not everyone was unharmed.

Many of the students looked at her with surprise. The professors gave her a look that said "I'm proud of you".

 A few professors were bleeding out from wounds but the most wounded person was Alivia. She had taken blows from the men, many were from defending the teachers and some were direct attacks. Her left arm was bleeding all over the floor, her right shoulder was dislocated and her right knee was badly bruised. A small knife wound in her chest was bleeding heavily.

 The professors quickly called for reinforcements and transferred the students to the care facility Reinforcements quickly arrived and transported all the injured people to the care facility.Alivia was in severe pain. She felt dizzy and seemed like she was about to faint. It could've been from the boost of excitement or the pain. Maybe it was because of the bleeding. 

She fell to the ground. As her eyes closed, she could hear muffled voices shouting her name. The last thing she saw was a few people quickly transporting her on a gurney. When Alivia opened her eyes, she saw the same man who had welcomed her on day one of her joining the facility. He had a dressing near his chest. 

"I cannot thank you enough for saving my life, you took several blows for me, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be alive." He smiled while saying that. 

"I almost forgot! You have been promoted to an official Empire member, congrats!" Alivia tried her best to speak but was unable to move her lips properly. She couldn't really say anything but she was extremely shocked

"It is a real surprise that you have been promoted this fast! The O.O.C would've taken months, hell even years to think about your promotion!" The professor said with a joyful tone. "I need to go soon, I have to handle some things, and I'll meet you soon," the professor said as he hurried towards the exit.

 A nurse soon came up to her bed and said "Someone had visited you while you were unconscious, he looked a bit strange and he gave me this letter as he exited." 

The letter just said "Congratulations, Miss Alivia Clawford, I forward to meeting you someday" She didn't know who it was from nor had the letter specified anything. A few weeks went by and Alivia finally got the approval to get out of the treatment facility. It felt strange to walk again. Most of her wounds had healed, but it still seemed strange to walk and do normal things. 

She changed into her clothes and went outside. A professor was waiting just outside the facility. He greeted her and told her "You can finally do tasks for the empire, currently you're new, but you can do a handy bit of tasks," the professor said with a smile on his face. "You can also do masters for specific jobs in the empire and use resources of the organization for your needs"

 He handed her address to a location nearby. "Now, You must have your own home, you'll work by this facility. You also have enough money to buy a home now!" the man said to Alivia. 

"I have money??? Wasn't I working for my studies?" 

"Yes, but students are given a handful of cash just before they graduated, and you've graduated!"The man responded. 

"Oh! that's lovely! So I will get money now for working for the empire?" Alivia said with excitement. 

"Of course, although you must know that now, you must be always being in the shadows"

                                                                           

                                                                        Special Thanks to:

Aurora And Brendan, You guys are the best. You motivated me and I can never thank you enough.

The Autumn's Place discord server, You people were lovely and the support and love from you guys is something I can never thank you for. You guys are awesome.

Server Link: https://discord.gg/nACWHsExgY

As well as all of my fans!!!! Thank you for your support!