The Descendants of the Ascendance Series - Nessa's POV

Chapter One

Classes. Most people hate them. I love them. I love to read and one day hope to be a physician, like my dad.

Besides aspiring to be like my dad, I also want to study medicine because of my two best friends, Evangeline and Adelade. They're wonderful people, they really are, but much like their fathers they end up in stupid situations quite often.

Right now, we're working on a writing assignment about Carthyan history, but I just don't know what to write .

After our lessons are over, we have either sword fighting lessons or horseback riding. Today is a sword fighting day, which means that after class Evangeline's dad, Roden, will pick us up from classes. Some days we go to the stables, which I prefer, purely because I am downright awful at sword fighting.

"Nessa!" My dad called, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see him staring at me, arms crossed, eyebrows raised.

"Sorry Dad," I said, grabbing my pencil and beginning to write -- or, technically scribble.

Just when I figured out what I was going to write about, a knock on the door notified us that Roden had arrived to take us to the arena. Adelade ran up ahead of us and was by far the first person to make it to the crumbling stadium.

When I finally got there she was already grabbing her sword from its place on the wall.

I crossed my arms. "You sure ran out of class fast."

"Sorry," She replied absentmindedly, starting to swing her sword around a bit.

Just as Roden was about to begin the lesson, Evangeline ran in.

Breathless, she gasped, "Let's get this over with. I've got places to be."

Adelade and I shared a look and rolled our eyes in unison.

"Alright you three, let's get started," Roden announced, glaring slightly at Ev with a look that said we're talking later. "Evangeline, Adelade, in the arena. You two are first."

The two girls climbed over the short wall into the arena and stood facing each other, their swords in their hands. It was a fair match, seeing as both of them were skilled duelers. Multiple times each girl just nearly missed the other. In the end, one skillful shot brought Evangeline victory. Addy sighed, defeated.

"That was pure luck and you know it," She defended.

Ev chuckled. "You keep thinking that."

Roden stepped back down into the arena. "Evangeline, you're out for this one. Nessa, come on down. I want you to try against Adelade."

I nodded, grabbing my sword and tentatively stepping down into the arena with Addy.

This time, it was not a fair match.

Once we were both in the proper positions, Roden told us to begin.

I got one good swing at her legs, but she blocked it skillfully. She swung at me, but I ducked, narrowly avoiding the sharp blade she wielded. From my low position, I once more aimed at her ankles, but she was too fast for me, blocking my sword from far down by the hilt. She gave me a moment to resume a standing position before striking again, this time barely slashing my left shoulder. I felt a few drops of warm blood trickle down from the cut.

"Adelade wins," Roden announced.

Roden came back down and told Addy and I to go sit in the stands while he dueled Ev. In a matter of seconds, he had her lying on her back on the ground, the tip of his sword lodged in the dirt next to her head.

"Think twice before bragging next time," He warned.

She nodded reluctantly. He leaned down and helped her stand up.

"You guys can keep practicing until class is over," Roden told us.

And so we did.

Addy and Ev dueled first. This time, Adelade won, but nearly. I practiced with Roden, and was easily overpowered. Before we knew it, class was over. Evangeline left to go find Walker, and Addy and I made our way back upstairs to change.