Running From Darkness

New Home

The trio of friends (Joseph, James and Nathan) followed Emily down the long, bamboo panelled hallway which they had been told were the rooms for the students. The staff rooms were in a separate wing so that they wouldn't be disturbed by the trainees. The age of the recruits here ranged from 7-26 they had been told, some people stayed here for nearly 20 years and some stayed on to become staff and train the next generation of The Order. They all knew where there rooms where so there was no need to visit them again but they were told that they could decorate it with any furniture and posters that they desired. The next room they entered was a long rectangular room with two tables with high-backed chairs running the length of the room. At the other end was a lavishly decorated horizontal table with about 120 plush chairs along its length.
"That's the head table," Emily explained, "all of the staff sit there whilst the students as trainees sit along these tables," she gestured to the extremely long vertical tables either side of her. They walked along the varnished wood floor until they got to another circular door. They went through and Emily told them briefly that these were the staff rooms. They were very beautifully decorated with double beds and sofas along the length of the rooms. They passed through the corridor and came to a very ornate door with floral patterns made of gold inlay. Emily pushed the double doors open with no small amount of strength and they all stepped into the weirdest compartment that the boys had seen yet. A sandy pit about 200 metres in diameter was sunk into the floor in front of them and seats circled it in slowly rising rings. A covered box was set at the head of the arena and golden chairs and sofas were arranged artfully within the comfort of the shade.
"This," Emily told them with a grand sweep of her arms, "is the coliseum! Our best trainees battle each other here for the entertainment of the others to show they have mastered their powers and to be in with a chance to graduate from The Order academy and go out into the world to combat the Evil. No students die here but they fight until one is severely wounded or surrenders to the other. Usually it is the former as the majority of the students are very competitive." They exited the 'Coliseum' through another of the circular doors and were in another of the wooden corridors. Either side of the corridors (very similar to the rooms) were doors. However, whereas the doors to their room were sterile and white against the varnished wood, these doors were the bamboo sliding 'shoji' doors.
"Through each of these doors is a training room. There is one for each trainer plus ten at the end for purely physical training. In every room there is a trainer. The last ten are physical trainers who will push your body to the limit and further. The first thirty are the home of all The Order's major trainers who will help you find out and develop your powers. All of our 200 and something trainees have an hour session with both the physical trainers and power trainers every weekday and Saturday. The other time you have can be spent in the room at the end which is similar to the coliseum but used for general training on your own. There is also a variety of weapons equipment which the physical trainers will also train you with." They left the training corridor and went back to the rooms. As soon as they got into the corridor, Emily spun around on her heel and asked them,
"Any questions from anyone? No? Ok then! I hope you all enjoy your stay here and-"
"Hang on a minute!" Nathan exclaimed, "I have a question. What's the whole thing with the piping on the jumpsuits and the colour of the rope belts?"
"Oh that's easy!" Emily laughed, "Red is the newest recruits, blue is for when you've been here one month, green is one year, yellow is two years and up, orange is five years to final year, purple means that you have been on at least one mission for The Order, black is when you're in graduation year, silver is for staff and gold is for a head of department. Ben doesn't wear a jumpsuit because he's the head of this organisation. Anymore questions? No? Ok, great! I'll see you guys around!" Then she walked off down the corridor to her room.