The Land of Magic

The Orb

Alex felt intimidated. By the way Sylvie was holding the greatsword, it seemed like she was experienced. Sylvie smirked. "You're nervous, scared and hopeless. You're an open book."

"Alright!" shouted Tiaren. "Now! The person on the left will take a LIGHT swing at the person on the right! The person on the right will have to defend!" Alex realized he was on the left, and quickly took a swing at Sylvie. Bad mistake. She blocked it flawlessly, and also knocked the sword out of Alex's hands. It clattered to the other side of the room. All while she had a smile on her face.

Alex realized everyone was staring at them. No, at Sylvie. "Well, at least there's one in here that isn't a total wimp." said Tiaren. "Come here, girl. Are you skilled in any other weapons?" she asked. Sylvie nodded her head. "Yes, but not melee. I have been using a greatsword and a bow for a long time." Tiaren smiled. (Or, tried to.) "Okay then. You'll teach the chump you're with. You think you can handle that?" Sylvie nodded. Tiaren then pointed at a door leading to another room. "You'll train him in there. I'll train all these other people out here. You! Get in that room!" she shouted. Alex quickly followed Sylvie into the room.

It wasn't a very big room, more of a personal training room. It had an unarmed straw dummy and one which was holding a wooden sword and shield. "Stand there," Sylvie ordered. "Now, look at how I hold the sword. Try to imitate it." Alex did so. "Now, try taking a swing at that dummy,". Alex tried to, but he merely touched it. Sylvie sighed. "I really gotta teach you form the start huh. Okay, this is how you swing it................."

After two hours of what seemed like pure torture, Alex went back to his dorm room. "Finally, I'll get a rest," he said aloud. "I don't think so," a mysterious voice said. Alex looked around the room for the source of the voice. "W-who are you? What do you want?" he said. Then he noticed that his room was lit up, but he hadn't turned on the lights. He saw a floating light orb flying around the room of the ceiling. "I have come to warn you about an enemy," it said. "Who you think is a friend, is an enemy. Who you think is an enemy, is a friend. Not everyone is as they seem. You're a human, Alex. Your friends are humans too. Humans tell lies and betray. They do bad things to each other. Don't forget that." The light dimmed, then went out.

Alex was now sitting in complete darkness. He felt confused (again). What did it mean? he wondered. A friend is an enemy? An enemy is a friend? What? He then decided to put his thoughts aside and he went to sleep.

For the next few days, absolutely nothing happened. Everyday was completely normal. Go to class, have lunch, class again, have training, sleep. Even though everything seemed normal, Alex wasn't. Everyday he thought about what the orb had said. He couldn't figure out who was the friend and who was the enemy. He got into lots of trouble too.

"BLOCK IT!" Tiaren shouted. Alex had been daydreaming, again. He lifted up his sword and blocked Sylvie's attack. "One moment later and your head would've been chopped off. You better get your head in the game or you'd lose it! One more mistake and you're out!" Tiaren snarled. Alex put the thought of the orb aside, and then continued practice.

After countless of hours (or maybe 10 days), Alex was finally able to pin Sylvie to the ground. At first she was mad, then she started smiling. "Not bad. You've improved a lot, you're actually good now," she said. Alex smiled back, and said, "Thanks." Suddenly, Sylvie pushed him over and pinned him on the ground. "But not good enough," she smirked.

That night, Alex thought about everything again. That's when he thought of something. 'Is Sylvie the enemy?'