The Place Before the Core (Reprise)

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Long ago, there was an empire, where sorcery was praised and knights could take refuge in homes around you. Everyone was ethically happy but enemies still brewed in towns, cities, and villages. The empire was divide into several kingdoms. During this time many men and women have earned a name for themselves. Like the handsome and charming warrior named Gladious, or the beautiful yet fierce Jezebel. Problems come and go, sought and conquered by warriors and their guilds. Then one day, everything collapsed when the young high king of the empire, Aquanis, was approached by a hooded man.

That's the story my mom, Esmeralda, used to tell me when I was little. She would never finish the story; instead she would kiss my forehead, say 'Goodnight Jessica' and walk out the room. I used to believe the story; I always wanted to be a part of it. But I'm in the class world history and we have learned nothing about the empire she used to describe.

"Today class, we will have our weekly mock war. We are having it today due to the earthquake that happened yesterday." Said an old blacked hair pirate like man who stood from his desk.

He wore an eye patch over an eye, the color of a shadow, and held his self up with a wooded stick. This old man's left leg was replaced with a fake limb. His voice also resembled one of a pirate, raspy and hoarse.

"Mr. Self, that's the seventh earthquake this month! When will they stop?" Complained a student across the room.

"They've been happening before you were born and they will probably stop a long time after you die." Mr. Self answered wobbling towards a cabinet.

"Did you hear about the man who fell down the fracture?" Asked a boy with spiked hair right next to me, to the whole class.

"The openings in the ground are big enough for that, Jake. Was it the one who got separated from his family?" I spoke towards the boy.

"Yeah that was him, too bad the transportation didn't come in time and get him to the Safezones." He said partially excited and partially sad.

"Did anyone of you guys see the Terraformers patch up the street before you reached the underground bunkers?" Samantha, a dark haired girl, asked as the class when into endless chatter of the current events.

As we twittered on, Mr. Self removed some equipment from his special cabinet. He had acquired several fake swords that deceive the eyes as being real, as well as some archery sets. Mr. Self hushed the class and everyone ceased their conversations. We all waited eagerly for his next words. After awhile, he moved us into teams, with a boy named Clent and I as team captains. Each team is made up of twenty students since our class contains forty. We head up to large field the size of a football field; it had one great wall with the top containing several archery positions. In the middle was a door about the size of Manute Bol. One team has to over take this 'kingdom' while the other team defends. It's quite simple if you ask me and it's really fun.

Mr. Self removed a coin with a women on both sides with one a darker shade; almost black even. "Okay we will flip this magical coin to see who will attack and who will defend the castle. Jessica, choose heads or tails."

I chose heads, the dark side, and Mr. Self flipped the coin. It flipped five times and fell to the floor, resulting in heads. Clent's team relocated to inside the fake kingdom and my team moved to the far side of the field. The game is set up like a LARP, as in each one of us has a set number of mages, warriors, archers, and most importantly hit points. Each player has five hit points, each limb counts as one, the gut three, chest is an instant kill, and no head shots. Safety first.

"Rules are simple, cause you all know them. Defenders need to either defend the castle for thirty minutes or eliminate all the attackers. And the attackers must infiltrate the castle and kill the queen before thirty minutes end." Mr. Self said moving far as possible from the battle field with a lounging chair and popcorn.