Raven Hills

Chapter 7

As the breakfast was going on silently, of course, as always there came the silence breaker.

So, guys, care to specify on the minute details of the rescue mission?

Lizzie, as usual, was eager or rather curious about the details of the mission. I had not participated in the earlier missions but one thing was for sure, everytime, the following day, there was a strategy meeting carried out and that was usually initiated by Lizzie.

And so this time too, the same was going to happen or so I thought. Hope gave out a sigh and just patted Lizzie's shoulders, and went on. The others were also tired to carry out a strategy meeting now. And thereby there was only me and Lizzie now in the hall. I too was about to slip out but as a person with no shred of luck, of course, I was caught.

And so, Lizzie and I walked together to our next class. Then came her bombardment of questioning,

So, how was your first field mission? Were you faring well? And dad told me about the bad guys, well of course he would since I am his perfect daughter with brains. But anyways, whatever, so how were they? Were they like us? Supernaturals? And were there any witnesses?

She was asking so many questions that my head was starting to hurt but I couldn't just ignore her, of course, knowing her personality, she was very well capable of making my refusal to reply as a sensational news, which would very well be, damn embarrassing. So, I just told her about whatever she wanted to know about. And while talking about the very same aspects, once again the realization struck me, I was weak, and they were strong. They were not to be underestimated.

As both of us were still analysing the information about the enemies, the bell for the next class rang. And it was time for defence mechanism class.

The defence class was taken by Professor Alex. Unlike the other courses which were mainly discipline specific, that is, different on the basis of the variation in factions, this class was a common one and everyone irrespective of factions needed to attend. Further, the class solely emphasized on strengthening the overall physical abilities of all the students so basically, this came under the collective course section where all the factions took the class together.

And so, for the class, as usual, all the students gathered in the backyard where Prof. Alex was readily warming up for the upcoming vigorous activities. From what I could see, almost everyone was present except those who were kind of busy, I believe, such as my sister, who informed me that she needed to work on a potion assignment and thereby was skipping the defence class.

Well, truth be told, our school mainly focussed on teaching defence spells instead of attacking spells and so this class was kinda like a mandatory choice, not only for physical fitness but also to fight against an opponent with the help of self-defense in a dire situation resulting from an absence of magic.

And so, everyone were in their joger clothes, some were wearing track suits like me while others wore cargo pants like that of Leo. And thereafter professor started speaking,

Okay so, good morning everyone!! Welcome to the defence mechanism class. I am Alex Maurialis and I am the incharge of teaching you guys defence. I presume that many of the students already know how I teach. And so, my main agenda is to teach you how to be independent of the powers that you bestowed upon. Because there might always be a situation where your powers might not work miracles and help you at times of pinch, so it is crucial for you all to strengthen your physical abilities.

After listening to the wholesome speech (*sigh*), everyone were just standing, acting least bothered but then came the surprise, Prof. A brought out a bag which seemed to appear heavy, I was just assuming that maybe that was a bag of weapon or something, and to my surprise, my guess was correct. But rather than the dangerous weapons that he usually made use of during missions, there were wooden planks and sticks and then he gave us the instructions for the so-called defence drill.

We were instructed to form groups of two, and choose either planks or sticks, and then based on that we were to practice fighting duel with the sticks or to practice punches and kicks with the planks. And so, everyone scattered and started choosing their opponents or rather partners. Lizzie chose Hope, as Jo was also skipping the class along with my sister, while Milton and Kevin became a pair. I was sort of left alone and then I saw him, Leo, he seemed to be alone so without much choice I decided to ask him to be my pair but out of nowhere, there came in the newcomer, Louis, he already asked him, and so they became a pair. That was kinda irritating, I mean I didn't like Leo, of course, but the fact that someone just interrupted my decision of choosing a pair pissed me off. But anyways, without finding any solution, I was about to leave the premises and head back to the dorms, when someone called out,

Hey Lucas, wanna be my partner for this defence session?

I turned around and I saw her, Amaira, I thought that maybe she had called the wrong person and so, I was about to leave when she held my arm and spoke out,

Isn't that kinda rude. I just asked you to be my sparing partner not a partner in crime or something. You shouldn't ignore me for that!?

I was kinda perplexed about her decision of choosing but I just faintly smiled by scratching my head and replied,

Sorry, I thought that you were talking to someone else. But anyways, sure, I can be your sparing partner if that's what you want, that is.

At first, she kinda glared at me as if I seemed suspicious, but after sometime, she just nodded and we decided to be sparing partners. We both chose the sticks and started fighting. The Professor kept on warning us not to injure each other and that this was just a simple sparing session and so, Amaira and I too just started out by engaging in basic sparing manner.