Early morning. A 17 year old boy with black hair and black eyes, named Lorne, looks outside the window of a monorail train heading, Sovereign, the largest and most populated city in the kingdom of Doxa. As the boy enjoys the scenery flying by he wasn't prepared for the view of the awesome sight of the large and amazing looking city as it came into view. All around him he can hear people around him clamoring around to get a good view of Sovereign. It wasn't unexpected however. Almost everyone in that train was on that train for the exact same reason Lorne was. All of them had been accepted into Dire, a prestigious combat school that trained young men and women to become Hunters and Huntresses in order to combat the Grim, creatures whose sole purpose seems to be the complete obliteration of the human race. The school only selects exactly four hundred students a year out of thousands of applicants and all the ones were lucky enough to enter the school novices, and come out the best of the best. Lorne watched in silent awe as he looked at all the people that the train passed by. His fun came to an end however when the conductor made an announcement on the intercom.

"Students. I know you're excited at your first glimpse of Sovereign but we're pulling into the station right now and I highly advise that you buckle up until we stop. When we stop you may pick up your weapons and armor in the lobby" He said.

Lorne quickly pulled away from the window and buckled up in his seat. A young man with blond hair and blue eyes, about 18 of age, walks up to Lorne and takes a seat across from him.

"Hello there. Name's Mack. Mackie to my friends." Said the young man. Lorne wasn't really sure what was going on so he decides to be polite and replies.

"Hi. I'm Lorne. Lorne Arthurson." Said Lorne

"No kidding. Nice to meet you Lorne." Mack smiles held out his hand and Lorne politely refused. "Ha! Cautious of strangers. Glad to know your mom didn't raise an idiot. So you got accepted into Dire too? Where you from?

"I'm from Wight. It's in the northern part of Doxa near the Lost Land."

"Near the lost land? I thought it's basically suicide for ANYONE to live there."

"People are able to live there. It's just you need to deal with the occasional swarm."

"Well let's hope that those swarms prepared you for the real monsters out there. I trained all my life to be accepted into this academy. Dad told me either I become a Hunter or a dental Hygienist." Mack chuckles and imitates his father "The only thing that makes more money than a Hunter is a dentist. I tell ya, there's gold in those molars." Lorne laughs at Mack's joke and Mack soon followed with a hardy laugh. "You know Lorne, I can tell that you and I are going to be great friends." The two suddenly felt the train brakes activate and it slowly drifts into the station with a ear retching screech. The conductor once again contacted the passengers via intercom.

"Alright everyone. We're finally at the Sovereign train station. Again your weapons and armor located in the lobby. Just talk to the lobby receptionists and they'll handle everything for you. Also you may change in the bathrooms located to the east of here. Good luck students and have a wonderful Dire experience." Once the intercom turns off Lorne and Mack unbuckles themselves and they exited the train. They walked off the train and once they had received their weapons and armor, Lorne entered the men's bathroom in order to change. Mack waited outside now with a machete with purple roses decoration made of dust gems on the blade on his back. Lorne soon exits the bathroom now wearing brown leather boots & gloves, a chainmail vest , chainmail pants, a steel chest plate, a steel kite shield and a sheathed long sword at his waist.

"Hey, hey, hey. Looking pretty snazzy." Said Mack

"Thanks. By the way, do you know how to get to the academy from here?"

"Yeah, but I need to meet up with some relatives who live around here. Let's meet up again at Dire."

"Sure. See ya Mack." Lorne waves goodbye to his new friend as he runs off into the city. Once Mack was out of sight Lorne breathes a sigh of relief and he snickers a bit. School hasn't even started yet and whether he wanted to or not he had already made a friend. "This is going to be an interesting year." Thought Lorne