The Game

Chapter 6

The corridors were clean, modern and brightly lit. There must of been thousands of corridors and rooms hidden under my Dads property.

"So how long has this been here?" I asked

"Oh only seven hundred years" Jackson replied

"Only seven hundred? Ok and what is this building used for?" I said curiously.

"Training mostly and a place for when we want to speak to Sapphire Anne. It also is a training faculty, library, museum, gaol and weaponry" Fletcher started telling us

"Sapphire Anne?" Ekkia asked the question I'd been thinking

"Our Dux for Our state" Jackson replied

"Dux?" I said utterly confused

"Dux is the Latin word for leader" Jackson continued

"Oh" I said and remained silent. After what seemed like a million twists and turns we arrive at a huge room. It is all open and yet divided into parts. There is target practice with guns and bows, hand to hand combat, sword fighting, fighting with magic and even a swimming pool for in and underwater fighting. The place is empty except for a few people practicing magic.

"Wow" I breathe amazed.

"Ok weapon of choice?" Fletcher asked

"Samurai sword obviously" I told him. I had always had a fascination with swords.

"Bow and arrow" Ekkia said smiling in excitement.

"Ok cool I'll take Izzy while Jackson can teach Ekkia" Fletcher told us and we headed our separate ways. I followed Fletcher to a cushioned open space.

"Ok before I start teaching you how to fight I will teach you elemental magic" he said creating a ball of fire in his hand.

"Ok" I said excited yet nervous

We spent two hours practicing elemental magic and by the end of it I could create a ball of fire in my hands, move a paper clip without touching it and manipulate water.

"Wow you catch on quickly" he congratulated me "keep practicing and tomorrow I will teach you necromancy"

"Cool" I laughed extremely excited

Fletcher handed me a cylinder about ten centimetres long made of an unknown material.

"Uhhh... what is this?" I stared at it curiously

"It's your sword" he said looking amused

"No it's not it looks like the handle of a sword but its lacking the main part" I told him

"Here carve this into it" he laughed handing me a knife and showing me symbol in a small book. The symbol was a circle with a cats head inside it. The circle was inside a triangle and inside the cats head was what I recognised as the Chinese symbol of power. I shrugged and started to carve which was surprisingly easy and once I was done I handed him back his knife. He handed me the book of symbols.

"Keep it I have another one" he said

"Thanks" I smiled and shoved it into my jacket pocket. Before I could do anything else he grabbed my right hand and pricked the finger next to my thumb with knife drawing blood.

"Oww what the hell?" I cried trying to pull away from him but he pressed my bleeding finger onto the symbol. It seemed to suck up the blood then it glowed a bright blue and faded to nothing.

"Now only you can use your sword?" He explained

"Oh" was all I could reply

"Tap the symbol once with your finger" he said and I did, immediately a blade seemed to slide from nowhere creating the sword. I swung it a few times feeling how natural it felt in my arms.

"Tap the symbol twice" he ordered and I did just that, the blade slide in quick as a rattlesnake.

"Wow" I breathed tapping the symbol once more and admiring the blade. Patterns had been carved into the blade they were gold and the blade was an amazing silver. We practiced for hours and hours, him teaching me and me learning. After what seemed like ages I checked my watch, 5:00pm.

"Crap" I muttered

"What is it?" Fletcher asked

"We gotta get back" I cried

We walked over to Ekkia and I pocketed my sword. Ekkia looked at me and nodded grabbing her new bow which was sleek and dangerous looking. Without saying anything we left and once we'd finally gotten out of the building and into the outside world, we got on the bikes and headed for our camp. It was 5:20pm when we got back to camp, Bruiser was sitting miserably by the creek but when he saw us he wagged his tail and let out some loud but happy barks.

"Sorry boy" I whispered to him untying him and patting him for a few minutes. The fire was out so sighing I started it again and searched the food we'd brought for anything appetising but with no luck.

"Would you like us to grab some pizza?" Fletcher asked

"What really?" I said surprised at the kind offer

"Yeah sure" he replied

"Cool" I replied handing him a $10 note

"Nah we don't need that just pay for it next time" he shrugged and I nodded understandingly

They rode off and me and Ekkia spent an hour and a half talking about our training and how exciting everything was becoming. When the returned they had a meat lovers pizza and a BBQ chicken pizza. All of us stuffed our faces we hadn't eaten all day but when we did take a breath we were talking like old friends. Finally though they left telling us to meet them at the shed at 11:00am tomorrow and we collapsed into our swags muscles sore from practicing. I feel asleep thinking that this was all a dream and I'd wake up tomorrow to everything being disappointingly normal.