A Hero's beginning

Chapter 9

Next was combat training class. As the three of us walked in I noticed Madelynn, Jackson and Trinity waving us over on the other side of the arena which itself was a circular arena with a circle of sand in the middle surrounded by several rows of stairs that started one story above the sandy floor of the arena. "Oi!" someone yelled. The six of us and everyone else on the arena floor snapped to attention and looked around to see where the voice came from. Just then a 6 '5 burly man with a goatee, greased back gray hair wearing red gym shorts, a dark gray muscle shirt, and a whistle around his neck blew his whistle and banged a 5 foot tall staff with a Fire dragon head carved on the top against the ground. He had a nametag that said: Coach Johnson. "Alright delinquents! Today is your first day of staff training! All we'll be doing until your staff ceremony is staff training! Any Questions!? No? Good!" he yelled. "Grab a staff and then get into groups of six!" He banged his staff against the ground and several racks of plain five foot long wooden staffs made of several woods emerged from hidden trapdoors in the ground. Everyone ran for the staffs like starved hyenas for meat. I grabbed a staff made of laurel wood, Jackson got one made of oak, Madelynn got one made of birch, Grace got one pine, David got a five foot long rod made of argentum and Trinity had one made of white coral. "So what do you think we're going to do?" Jackson asked us. We shrugged with a few "no clue" s and "I dunno"s. As the six of us huddled together to make a plan while everyone else scrambled to get into groups. "Get ready! You six will go first!" said the coach as he pointed at our group. Go first for what?, I thought before a trapdoor beneath us opened up and dropped us 20 feet down into a giant maze with all of us screaming in unison except Grace. As we were about to hit the ground Grace grabbed my wrist, I grabbed Madelynn's and the six of us formed a human chain with Jackson at the end. As Grace gently lowered us to the ground I heard a voice other than mine speak in my mind. Rally your comrades, spoke the voice of Athena in my mind. "Guys I have a plan. Follow me!" I said. Go left, I shall guide you through this maze, Athena said. I ran through a tunnel to the left and my friends followed. Athena guided me through the maze while me and the others jumped over spike pits, swerved around hidden landmines that David warned us about, climbing rock walls, trudging through ponds full of piranhas that Trinity knocked out of the water with her staff and then we finally made it to a large circular area with a ladder leading up to the surface. The only thing in our way was a massive dark green serpent with pearly white fangs dripping steaming purple liquid, with a collar of white spikes around its neck and glowing pale yellow eyes that seemed to draw your attention. Don't look into its eyes, it is a basilisk, Athena said. "Don't look at its eyes! It'll paralyze you!" I warned my friends. "Trinity, Madelynn, follow me. Jackson, you tie it up with vines. Grace, David, zap and fire at it. Go!" I ordered as Trinity, Madelynn and I ran forward while the others got into position. Jackson raised his arms as his eyes glowed green, vines erupted from cracks in the floor and tied up the basilisk, which writhed around and spit acid on the vines. Trinity, Madelynn and I ran forward with our staffs out. Madelynn and Trinity stood with their arms out and shouted something I couldn't make out and the basilisk smacked them aside with its tail. "No!" Jackson and I yelled in unison then stared at each other in confusion. I yelled in outrage. I ran forward, the anger of it hurting my friends fueling me. "Flammas boltun!" I yelled with the tip of my staff pointed at the snake's head. As soon as I said the spell, an orb of fire shot from my staff and hit the back of the basilisk's head. It whirled around and spit its venom at me. "Protegus!" I yelled and a holographic blue energy shield appeared in front of me, blocking the venom. "Grace, David, Jackson, now!" I yelled as the shield disappeared. Jackson thrust out his hands and vines shot up from the cracks in the floor and tied up the snake as David shot a fire ray at the basilisk while Grace shot bolts of electricity at it. I flew forward at the speed of a cheetah and smacked the snake's head, knocking it out cold. As Grace and David stopped shooting at it, I gently set myself down next to the charred snake. I placed my hand on its disgustingly scaly and slimy neck and felt a faint pulse. I unsheathed my dagger and raised it above my head. "May the Great Ones guide you. You fought bravely, you disgusting snake." I said before I sent down my dagger on the snake's throat, cutting its jugular vein. The now dead basilisk shrank down into a small stone statue of it with a rune on its forehead: ᚺ. Hagalaz, Athena spoke, the rune of transformation. I picked up the delicate stone statue and smashed it on the ground. As the statue shattered into pieces the chamber rumbled, I dropped my staff and ran to Madelynn's side, cradling her in my arms. Trinity was a few feet away, who was beginning to regain consciousness, and the others ran over to where I was. Jackson helped Trinity stand up with some help from grace and carried her over to me and David. Suddenly there was a flash of light and the six of us were back in the arena. I squinted as my eyes readjusted to the sunlight after the dark maze. The coach ran over to us and assessed the situation. "You" he pointed at me. "Take her to the infirmary, quickly." He pointed at Madellynn. I picked Madelynn and ran to the infirmary.

I sat in a chair next to Madelynn's hospital bed as the doctor finished treating Madelynn and my many scratches and scrapes. The doctor was a middle-aged asian woman wearing hospital scrubs with a doctor's coat, her long black hair tied back in a ponytail and blue eyes that sparkled with amusement. "She should wake up soon. It might be better if you stay with her. It would be better for the first thing she sees when she wakes up to be a friend instead of a stranger like me. When she wakes up she should be able to attend her next class." The nurse said before she calmly walked out of the room. A few minutes later Madelynn's eyes fluttered open and I held her hand. "Madelynn, thank the gods you're ok." I said, smiling at her. "Hey James. The last thing I remember before blacking out is you charging towards the basilisk... after that everything went black." she said. I leaned forward and hugged her. "I'm glad you're ok." I said before pulling away. Just then the Doctor came back in with a small stone pendant of a silver chain. "If you wear this, it should give you enough magic energy to get through your last two classes. Its enchanted with the power rune, Uruz." she said as she slipped the pendant around Madelynn's neck. The small stone pendant had a rune on it like the doctor said: ᚢ. "Wow, thanks Doctor Chang." Madelynn said. After a few minutes of helping Madelynn stand up. We made our way to our next class.