Rise of Venus

Attacked

When they got there Venus and Cymbeline chose to stay towards the back of the group, the instructor wasted no time in telling them what they would be doing. Running. Everyone's favourite. Nearly everyone groaned.

"Now kids don't sound so excited." Venus knew the teacher was trying to be funny or at least lighten the mood, but it only made him more annoyed. "You're supposed to be strong warriors, warriors don't groan at the sound of hard work. Let's go." They all took off towards the beginning of the track after the teacher clapped their hands.

Saying the field was large would be an understatement, if Venus stood at one end he wouldn't be able to see the other, even with his enhanced vision. Jogging less than half of the field left him tired and wanting to go to bed, he imagined the non shifters felt even worse. They didn't even know how far they were supposed to be going. The teacher never told them,they could be stuck running the whole thing. Cymbeline kept up with him to his credit, he knew Cymbeline could run much faster than him, he was already starting to lose his breath, and could have done this within an hour so at least he was finally being a partner for once. He just hoped Cymbeline wouldn't try to find a way to destroy or set something on fire. Though he had been acting oddly quiet they still had at least a quarter of the track to run, there was enough time for something to happen.

They were met a quarter from the end of the track by their instructor on the back of a dark brown dragon. The dragon had a few scales that looked gold when they caught the sun. He could see its teeth poking up out of its mouth from its jaw. They were told they were allowed to turn and walk back to the building, and that they were being excused from their last class because of how long everyone was taking to complete the run.

"Well at least we don't have to run back." Cymbeline said while yawning, he had begun walking away while Venus was looking at the dragon and he had to jog to catch up to him. They walked in silence until they reached the building. "I'm going up to the dorm." Cymbeline told him as he walked away, the golden chains attached to his crown swaying as he walked. This wasn't unusual for him, rarely did Cymbeline ever go to the cafeteria and even when Venus did see him in there he never had any food with him. He didn't know what Cymbeline did in the hour or so he spent in the dorm by himself at dinner, but he would usually be in the dorm by the time Venus got back. Venus would just grab some food for him while he was there.

Once Cymbeline had turned the corner, Venus started walking towards the cafeteria, he could already hear the loud voices of the other students he noticed it got harder and harder to block out their voices. It was most likely because he hasn't shifted into his dragon form since he got to the academy, not shifting had already been taking a toll on him, another pesky dragon trait. He would have to find some time to at least partially shift sometime soon, if he didn't want his condition getting any worse, he also didn't want to risk waiting until his body decides when to shift for him.

The cafeteria was relatively dark, the staff had closed the curtains so the light of the sun couldn't come through as well, it also made the room a bit colder than usual. They probably had some food that was supposed to be frozen or at least cold out. Venus stood next to the food tables looking at the food they had to choose from for dinner. They had the usual, some different sandwiches using vegetables from farms outside of the city, and they had little bowls of fruit. He didn't recognise most of them, there were some dark blue ones that looked like they had come from the night kingdom. He picked one of them up from the bowl and tossed it into his mouth while looking around to make sure no one was watching, he immediately regretted it. The fruit was incredibly sour and Venus spit what was left of the fruit into a nearby garbage can as quickly as he could but the taste lingered.

Once the taste faded a little bit and he could relax his face againhe picked up two sandwiches and also grabbed some of the watermelon slices that were still there before walking out of the cafeteria. He walked to the dorm almost completely on autopilot only really paying attention to where he was going whenever he noticed people in the way, he also stopped to say hello to Ortre when he noticed her, she was probably waiting for Flos to finish in the cafeteria. She was reading a book in a corner.