Phoenix-6

Chapter One- Ahron

It all started one rainy and depressing afternoon. I was walking to my dorm room from the academy library, my nose stuck in an e-reader. I had checked out my first book of the year- this one was about gorditt anatomy. (Not a particularly good looking species) I swiped to the first page, a picture of the Gorditt exterior. I didn't have much time to look, because somebody ran into me. Before I knew what had happened, I was on the floor, and my e-reader was nowhere to be found.

"Looking for this, bookworm?" Blayne Gurteg, a long time enemy of mine, stood above me, dangling the reader in front of my face. I stood up, slowly.

"Give that back!" I mumbled meekly, not really knowing what to say.

"Why don't you make me, you little creep." Look who's talking. I thought.

"Gotta give you at least a little credit, though. You have good taste." He pointed to the front cover, an image of a gorditt resembling himself.

Suddenly, Blayne pivoted around me, and pushed me into the wall. His grotesque, orc-like face was inches from mine, and his rancid Gorditt breath almost made me gag.

"What's the matter? Afraid of Gorditts, you fleshy Human?" he scraped a three-fingered claw at my neck.

"Hey, let him go!" a confident voice demanded from behind me. I attempted to squirm out from under, but Blayne's grip was unrelenting. I could recognize that voice anywhere. It was my friend and dorm roommate, Zak, standing all-too ready to defend me.

"Well if it isn't the bandana bastard," Blayne sneered. "How were things at training? I heard they don't allow any infants down in Yereslan, but I guess they made an exception." Zak's hand absently drifted toward his neck.

"Dude, just leave him alone."

"Oh yeah, well why don't ya make me, Insee," Blayne spat at his feet

Zak hesitated for one moment, then struck. With one swift motion, he knocked Blayne off his feet, and out cold. The few people in the hallway went dead silent.

"Wow, I never thought military training would come in handy at school." Zak smiled, as if knocking someone out was a normal part of his day.

I picked the e-reader off the floor. "How can you just shrug this off? Zak, this is gonna give you 3 days of suspension at least."

He groaned. "I guess I got so used to basic rules. You see, all summer long, we were allowed to solve our own disagreements, as long as there weren't any weapons involved."

"Zak, that's all you talk about anymore. Why can't you just..." I stopped myself short. Why can't you just be the old Zackary?

"Look, Ahron. It's not something you would understand, alright? Basic is the only thing that makes my life worthwhile other than... aw, shit!" I looked up. Our Headmistress was coming down the hallway, pretty fast for a gilly in heels.

"Zakary Prade! What is going on here?" Mrs. Hellinger (or hellgiver, as dubbed by the students) folded her green arms over her chest. Mrs. Hellinger is a Gilly, an underwater dwelling species that has gills instead of lungs. Their skin is made tougher than a human's, almost like green splotched leather. In our headmaster's case, she got lung surgeries when she was young, so she could get a job out of water. (Unlucky for us)

"Uh, nothing, Headmistress Hellinger." Zak smiled. Boy, he sure knew how to play it cool. I wonder if he learned that at basic too. Hellinger didn't buy his excuse.

"You and I both know that an unconscious student isn't just 'nothing'. You boys better tell me what happened, or I'll call the resource Insee," She pressed her lips into a thin little line, and tapped her stiletto heel on the floor impatiently.