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Chapter 9 - Until You Are Broken

Vox eyed me as Dorian explained what this exercise would be to the children who were slow. I stayed in the back of the crowd, sneering at him. Vox grimaced back at me, his eyes freakishly still. At this point, just the sight of Vox made me sick to his stomach. Mostly because I knew what he was thinking. He would feed me to the crows when he noticed the slightest mishap in my step. And honestly, he had every reason to.

Dorian smiled widely as he spoke. "For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, your first training regiments will relate to building up your strength."

Neither Vox or Dorian were wearing their masks over their mouths. Instead, their masks rested on their collarbones like infinity scarves. I knew Dorian had a personality trait that was often him not wearing his mask correctly, but I would've thought Vox always having a stick up his ass for the rules would've made him enforce the rule.

Suddenly, Dorian's arms were thrown out to the side as he continued explaining, "Currently, the lot of you have the muscular definition of the average six or seven year old. Throughout the next year, we will be working to better that; working to build up your raw strength. So today's task is: you will be attempting to break the board using nothing but your bare hands." 

I had been correct. Our first step in training would be breaking the boards laid out in front of us. The idea clearly unsettled the better portion of the students. We weren't strong for our age. We were six and seven year olds. The best we could've done was punch Vox or Dorian in the leg just enough to make it hurt.

"Who wants to try first?" Dorian asked, a smile still spread across his face.

"Me!" Tridiel raised her hand high in the air.

I continued to glare at Vox. His expression said he was going to suggest me if no one offered themselves up so I'm kind of glad to this day that Tridiel did.

"No, I want to!" Dana shouted.

"No, me!" Khi raised his hand too.

Suddenly almost all of my classmates had their hands raised. I noticed Vox chuckled to himself when he saw me sinking into the background, not following en suite. I wanted to hit him again. I felt the annoyance simmering into rage inside my body. My blood was boiling.

"You'll all get your turn," Vox said as he stepped forward, lining up with Dorian.

"Before you try to break the boards, though, Vox and I are going to show you some simple martial arts stances that will aid you in your success," Dorian nodded at us, giving us the okay to claim our spaces for this lesson. Dorian would be watching everyone and Vox would be watching me and only me. Master Ako stood off to the side as Dorian and Vox prepared for the second half of today's lesson.

Each of us stood behind or next to a board meant for destruction. My friends and I stood next to each other as we'd always found each other to be our greatest motivation. Arlett, Dana, Khi and I smiled at each other as Dorian and Vox began moving in unison, jerking their left arms outward and making fists. I got the feeling that their fists were rock hard and if we messed up—they might've punched us.

Dorian and Vox had started the lesson without so much as a word telling us to pay attention. If my classmates fell behind, it was their fault. The druids were already weeding the weak out. Of course nobody was truly considered weak until you received the failing grade of not passing your inauguration, but I'm sure the druids had been predicting and pre-labeling us on day one. Dorian and Vox weren't there to teach, not really; that was Master Ako's job. They were scaring and studying us.

Vox and Dorian unclasped the hooks of their cloaks and tossed them to the side so we could see how their bodies moved underneath. It was a rare sight to see what the druids wore under their cloaks. Most of the time I saw them, they wore robes underneath or maybe it was just a robe with a hood. Today they wore tight fitted pants tucked into their boots and shirts with strange emblems stitched into them. They kind of reminded me of what the assassins of Ettrail wore, but to a much fancier extent. Their outfits were white, silver, and even had hints of gold, made for their glory.