Disclaimer: I don't own trollhunters, 3 below or wizards. I do own Aliyah Storms, Nathan Walker and a few other ocs in this story.
Aliyah stared at the clock as the seconds ticked by, her thoughts were scattered as usual between class and her personal life. She was playing over the descriptions of the monsters Eli had described and as much as she disliked the idea. She couldn't think of any known monsters that fit the description living in Arcadia. She had studied the gargoyles of France, terracotta army of China and Sentry Dragons of the Norse mythology, but none quite fit the description and were also located closer to Europe and Asia rather than the Americas. The only thing left to base them on was the weeping statues, but even that was a stretch as those were vague. She tried her best to sketch the monsters Eli described in her notebook and while she had done quite a few, unless she had seen them in real life or at least a photo, she was sure these drawings would be far from real.
Aliyah was so caught up in her sketching that she didn't notice that the teacher of her metalwork class, Mr. Robbeg Chelb was trying to get her attention. It wasn't long before the teacher came in front her desk and slammed his fist down on the metal table. Ordinarily when a teacher did that, it would just cause a loud bang, which would startle the student and those surrounding them. Chelb was not ordinary by the slightest. He was in his 50's but possessed the stamina and strength of someone much younger than himself. His thick long mustache would have made the butt of many jokes had he also not had two metal prosthetic limbs, both of which he acquired from accidents in his craft. The two prosthetic were designed by Chelb himself and being the thriller seeker that he was, were made to look terrifying in addition to functional. Probably the most impressive and simultaneously nerving thing about him was how his metal arm was capable of moving just as effective as normal one with the addition ability to bend and contort into various inhuman ways as well as supply excess force.
It was the very force from his arm that landed on Aliyah's desk that had caused it to deform in the way it did. Aliyah looked up from her work at the teacher feeling a slight bit of panic sinking in as she noticed his stare.
"Can you repeat the question?" She asked nervously.
"What do you think is the purpose of the blood groove medieval swords?" He asked her.
"Oh, that. Well a blood groove was the name given to the groove located on the centre of blade from the tip of the blade to the hilt." Aliyah answered.
"Okay, you have the location figured out; anyone else wants to help Ms. Storms answer the question?" The teacher asked the class. Most remained silent, except for one student who had nervously lifted his hand up.
"Yes Mr. Walker." The teacher called.
"The blood groove was used by knights as a means helping the blood flow out of a wielders opponent and it was said that when the groove was filled with blood the sword could be imbued with more power." Nathan Walker answered.
Chelb, as well as the rest of the class, looked at Nathan in a peculiar way.
"What?" Nathan asked.
"Dude, that is seriously disturbing." One student answered, earning some murmuring from the rest of the class. Chelb abruptly silence them by smacking his fist into Aliyah's desk again deforming it even more.
"Alright, alright, that's enough out of you all." Chelb told the class, before turning back to Nathan. "That is reasonable answer." Chelb explained earning some shocked expression from some students.
"Wait seriously?" A girl asked.
"Technically the answer is no; but it's also yes." The teacher responded. "You see it was a common legend made by people and historians, that the blood groove was supposed to be able to do that, but no evidence exists otherwise unless you count legendary swords like Excalibur and Durandal but those swords neither had blood grooves nor did they use such dark powers. What the blood grooves were really used for was reducing the weight of the sword." He explained.
"Swords in general were weapons, and weapons need to be two things. Easy to use and should also be able to damage if not destroy your enemies. Swords without blood grooves, were heavy, which while that helped wielders inflict more damage; it came at the cost of maneuverability. Plain and simple, they were too heavy to be used by weaker warriors, or even just exhausted warriors, and were also easy to dodge because of this. The blood groove basically removes the excess metal in the centre of the blade that isn't technically used in the fight to make the weapon lighter, while still keeping it as strong a sturdy as ever." Chelb explained.
"However, this was only possible through the combinations of blade tempering, heat treatment and distal tapers. This is why you will now be working in groups of two to research and design a proper sword and later this semester, if I can get the school board to agree, we can forge them." Mr. Robbeg said earning some cheers from the students. Another thing about Robbeg Chelb was that he had a tendency to make some of the best and most interesting class projects. One time he had the class design a catapult for the school football team to use since the school was too cheap to buy a football launcher. It worked fine till someone loaded a watermelon, but a sword couldn't be that dangerous, especially with teenagers.
"Now to pick the groups." Chelb said as the students all collectively groaned at this.
"Here we go again." Aliyah thought remembering her last partner.
Eli had finally finished his history class with Mr. Strickler and was now on his way to his locker to get some books for his later classes. While walking he was so busy searching through the web on his phone that he failed to notice another student walking into him.
"Ouch." He said as his books fell to the floor.
"I am so sorry." The person he bumped into, a girl his own age, responded.
"It's okay. It was my fault really" He told her, before realizing he didn't recognize her.
"Are you new here?" He asked nervously.
"Actually yes I am. I recently moved to this town with my family." She answered, as she began to gather her things, Eli mirrored her actions with his own books. As he was picking up the books he notice she had a book titled 'European Legends.'
"I see you're a fan of the supernatural." He stated.
"Well I wouldn't say I am much of fan, maybe a little curious." She answered, "Besides I don't think this school, likes fans of the supernatural so much. I heard of this weird kid who claimed he saw monsters by the bridge, and some students had some less than favorable comments about him." She said.
"Um yeah that was me." Eli deadpanned, and he immediately saw the color drain from her face. She immediately started apologizing but Eli quickly assured her it was alright.
"So, umm I'm Sabrina." The girl responded, offering her hand.
"Eli Pepperjack." Eli said as he shook it.
"Well Eli it was nice to meet you, but I need to get going, I have to head to the office to explain why I came so late today." She said as she hurriedly left.
"Oh okay." Eli told her as she began to walk away, before stopping. "Say are you by chance in Mr. Strickler's class?" She asked.
"Yeah…why do you ask?" Eli answered.
"That was supposed to be my first class. So I was wondering if you were in it. Maybe I could get the notes I missed from you." She replied.
"Oh, okay."
"Why don't I come over by you later and I can copy them down." Sabrina suggested, as she started to scribble down something on a piece of paper before handing it to Eli. "Here's my number, so you can text me your address. Thanks so much Eli." Sabrina told him before leaving abruptly. Eli watched as she left before feeling a tap on his shoulder. He jumped in reflex in case it was Steve or someone else, only to find Aliyah laughing at him.
"What?" He asked his friend.
"Oh nothing." She responded. "So are we still going after that corpse, or would I be intruding on your date?" Aliyah asked playfully.
"Really, I just met her and that's your response?" Eli asked.
"Considering your reputation, then yes." She responded earning a pout from Eli, this only made her smile more. Eli decided it was probably time to change the conversation.
"So how was Metalwork?"
"It was alright. I did these during class." Aliyah said as she showed him the drawings. Eli scanned them given his comments where it was needed. Some of the drawings were well down but the proportions were a little way off.
"Well if you had brought the picture, I could have probably done all that." She defended.
"We can always check it later. I have the photo already on the wall, just need to start making links" He answered.
"True." Aliyah replied. "Well that's all I wanted to show you, now I have to get to class." She said.
"What do you have?" Eli asked.
"Maths."
"That is not so bad." Eli said, laughing a little. He was very much aware of Aliyah despised the subject and he was often the one who helped tutor her.
"Maths stands for Madness Attacking The Head Slowly." Aliyah deadpanned, making air quotes.
"Sure it does." Eli smirked. "And Art stands for Alien Race Transfer." He responded smugly, before receiving a punch in the shoulder.
The rest of the day was uneventful; Eli got shoved into a locker by Steve, but thankfully Jim was there to help him out and Aliyah survived Maths. Aliyah had left class and was proceeding to leave when she was stopped in the hall by Nathan.
"Hey, so about the project?" Nathan asked.
"It's due a couple days from now and I have plans with a friend of mine. So move." Aliyah said as she ignored him and continued to walk only to hear him walking right behind her.
"Right it's due soon, so we should probably start working on it right now." Nathan said confidently.
"Then you can go and start doing research on it and I'll help you with it tomorrow." Aliyah responded, now running a little. She had just rounded the corner when she nearly collided with a teacher. Luckily she was able to avoid hitting them completely though there startled response did earn cause her to freeze.
"Ms. Storms." The teacher called, Aliyah briefly turned around to meet them.
"Mr. Strickler, how are you doing? Is that a new suit? It looks nice." She told him.
"No it is not." Strickler said. "But could you please enlighten me why you were in such a hurry."
"Oh that well you see. I was supposed to meet Eli to do some… homework but I got distracted and lost track of time." Aliyah lied.
"Would this homework be another one of your monster hunting trips?" Strickler asked.
"Maybe." Aliyah responded.
"Young lady you are aware that it is dangerous for a young girl like yourself to be out so late, and while I mean no offense to Eli, he isn't exactly the bodyguard type." Strickler replied calmly.
"Relax. Mr. Strickler we aren't going anywhere dangerous. Just by the storm drain and we'll be careful." Aliyah responded.
"I can't change your mind. Can I?" Strickler said.
"Not even the slightest." Aliyah responded as she left.
Strickler watched her as she left. "Nothing better than loyalty between friends, wouldn't you agree ?" Strickler said as Nathan approached him.
"Yeah, it's a real rare sight." Nathan responded before seeing Strickler glare at him. "I'll be on my way." He told the teacher before leaving.
"Oh and ," Strickler called, "It is considered rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversations." The teacher told him.
"Noted."
Aliyah arrived outside, Eli who had previously been on his phone had noticed her arrival, however just as she arrived, he was quick to hang up.
"I'm guessing that wasn't your mother." Aliyah asked.
"No, it was Sabrina. I told her I couldn't make it today so we could meet tomorrow." Eli answered, before immediately regretting it when he saw a playful smile appear on Aliyah's face. He clicked his shoes activating the skates within them, as did Aliyah and the two left the school compound, skating to the storm drain, all the while Eli had to listen to Aliyah teasing him about Sabrina.
However several pairs of eyes were watching them as many small figures moved in the shadows. The leader, a small humanoid creature with green skin, turned to his allies. "Waka chaka." It said before the other shadows continued after the duo.
Well when it came down to it, i realized the school scenes may be a frequent thing so detailing them might be boring. So i'll areas and events that happen outside school might be more extravagant. Like i said before, I want to do this right and it would be really helpful for me to know what you all like and dislike with my writing. I won't change my style completely to suit everyone's taste but it will help guide me. Because i know it easy for a writer to make mistakes and not notice them without a second opinion.
Also, how is the pacing going so far?
That's all for now, so like always, Fav, Follow and review.(Constructive reviews please.)
