Scars of Shadow Chapter 7: Testing Grounds
The moment Seathius had awoken he was on full alert, his eyes fully opening, scanning the room for any possible shred of danger. When he found none he began a two and a half hour-long exercise session, as he had done for the last however many years. While most creatures would not have time for this in the morning, Seathius had to admit that waking up at five in the morning did have its benefits. The first half of his exercises just involved things he could do in his room but after that he was certain he couldn't do flying exercises inside a room.
Seathius took a look into the corridor outside his room checking once again for anything wrong with the immediate area. While this was most likely unnecessary, Seathius did not take a single risk in life that could be avoided. When he was satisfied that there was nothing wrong, Seathius began jogging to the courtyard that was used reserved for students of the Academy, located in the centre of all the living quarters.
When he arrived, Seathius was slightly surprised to see a bronze dragoness twirling through the sky, performing aerial manoeuvres not performed by most veteran flyers let alone adolescents. Well she is skilled in flying. Duly noted. Seathius thought before approaching the fountain at the centre of the courtyard, making sure that Suraxis could see him as he did so.
After a few moments, Seathius noticed as Suraxis began to angle her descent to land in front of him, pinning her wings to the side in order to increase her speed. A few seconds before she was going to collide with the earth, Suraxis lent her head back and snapped her wings out slowing herself to a near stop only a few inches above the ground.
"Impressive," Seathius commented as Suraxis strode towards him "I haven't seen skill like that in a while."
"Good morning to you too. What are you doing up so early?" Suraxis asked.
"I could ask you the same question."
"That you could, but I asked first" Suraxis replied albeit slightly smugly and with a slight smirk on her face. Seathius simply stood there silently for a few moments before replying.
"Very well. I'm up because I woke up an hour and thirty-five minutes ago in hope of getting my exercises done. This hope however is wavering every second I spend standing here." He stated evenly.
"Well don't let me stop you then." Suraxis mumbled, before raising her voice accompanied by a slight smirk."But it is a free sky up there, do be careful where you're flying."
Seathius just made a slight hmph sound before without warning propelling himself into the sky faster than most dragons could follow. Suraxis responded with a grunt of her own before taking off after him. They both new full well what she had meant when she had said it's a free sky. She wanted a contest and Seathius wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to weigh up the skill of a possible opponent or ally.
They flew quickly to opposite positions above the garden courtyard below, readying themselves for the possible impact that would begin the contest. Suraxis had asked for a game of chicken and Seathius was no coward. All of a sudden they dashed towards each other at a dizzying speed, looking more like streaks of colour than dragons.
Time seemed to slow down as the two dragon neared each other, ready to try send the other one into the ground and thereby prove there skill.20 feet...10 feet...5 feet... There was a clash of ivory claws, one set grey and the other white, as Seathius and Suraxis engaged in an aerial claw fight, ducking and weaving with great skill while looking for an opening to send the other to the ground and ultimately, defeat.
Suraxis grin inwardly as she slowly started pushing Seathius further to the ground with increasingly fast light attacks, leaving him no openings for a counter. Or so she thought. Within a few seconds she was shocked as after a slightly heavier attack than her others, Seathius dodged and grabbed her foreleg, using the extra strength from her swipe to direct her downwards as her used his tail to push down on her back.
Seathius looked on from high above with a straight face as Suraxis was sent hurtling to the ground after his quick and brutal counter, only descending when he saw Suraxis collide with the ground albeit roughly. By the time Seathius reached his defeated opponent, Suraxis was back on her feet with a much less than pleased look on her face.
"Well I guess you win then." Suraxis admitted, before mumbling something about a lucky counter.
"Could you repeat what you just said please?" Seathius asked, raising an eye ridge at Suraxis' indignant attitude.
"I said, I guess-" She began before being cut off by Seathius.
"No, no not that. What you said after that."
There was a few seconds of silence before Suraxis scowled.
"Nothing." She stated plainly.
"That's what I thought you said."
"Well if you're so sure of yourself, then why not have a rematch?" Suraxis questioned.
"You want to try again? After that disgrace?" Seathius countered with a raised eye ridge.
"What are you afraid or something?"
There were another few moments of tense silence before Suraxis got her reply.
"...Very well."
This cycle continued in Seathius' favour for well over an hour, an endless repetition of fight, lose, get up, taunt, fight again. The cycle only ended when the high pitched ringing of the wake-up call echoed throughout the courtyard, alerting both dragons of the time.
"Well it seems that we will have to cut this little competition short." Suraxis stated with a sigh.
"What competition? It was just me beating you over and over again for an hour and a half."
Suraxis went to playfully punch Seathius in the shoulder before being painfully countered for what had to be the 47th time in an hour.
"Was that really necessary?" Suraxis asked, pulling her paw back from Seathius.
"Absolutely."
Suraxis let out a frustrated sigh in response. Seathius' blunt one to two word answers could be really grating on her nerves.
"Well good luck with the Academy exams later." Suraxis said
"I prefer not to leave things to luck."
"A simple 'you too' would have sufficed..." Suraxis muttered before striding off to prepare for the first test of the day- the beginners combat exam.
The day was going to work through a process of elimination. First part of the day was the beginner's exams, both combat and otherwise. After that was the intermediate exams for those that passed the beginners exam with high enough grades, while the lesser students were given new timetables and shown around their new school.
Then was the part Suraxis was quite intrigued by: The advanced combat exams. These were the tests that were reserved for the best of the intermediate class and the only class with limited spaces. Suraxis was quite curious who would qualify for the advanced class. After all, it never hurts to know your enemy, even if it is just for sparring...
Suraxis wasn't the only one anxious for the tests later in the day. At the same time another dragoness had just had the rattling, ringing noise of the morning wake up bell.
Groaning from the untimely awakening, Cynder dragged her eyes open only to snap them shut again as they were assaulted by the sunlight streaming into her room from the balcony. Stretching her legs as she rose from her bedding cushions, Cynder glanced over at a device on the shelf to the left of her bed. It was an ingenious device, created by the moles of course, that used several small gears to keep track of the time of day. Extremely helpful.
The device read at around mid-morning or 9 o'clock. Which was about the time that Cynder was told she should be preparing for today's tests on the schedule. Cynder's first test was the basic combat exam. Oh joy. Just finish fighting a war with the most evil dragon ever to live just to be thrown into a basic combat exam. Was it really necessary? Though it made no sense to her, Cynder wasn't going to make a big deal out of something so trivial.
Cynder exited her room and began making her way through the several corridors that led to the exit closest to the Academy's training arena, before noticing the distinct lack of other dragoness' in the area.
Fine by me. They would probably all hate me anyway. She thought to herself. Soon after that, Cynder's train of thought was cut short as she noticed another dragoness at one of the intersections in the labyrinth of corridors and hallways that led to the exit. Cynder shrank by slightly as she noticed the bronze dragoness in front of her, hoping that the dragoness would simply continue walking and not notice her. Fate was not so kind.
As soon as the pad on Cynder's back paw touched the ground the dragoness' head whipped round to face her, crouching into a defensive position. Upon seeing Cynder the dragoness' posture relaxed slightly along with the focused look on her features.
"Oh, hello" The bronze dragoness greeted Cynder. The dragoness' greeting was met with a confused look from Cynder.
"You're Cynder aren't you? I saw you at the speech yesterday before...Well you know. I'm Suraxis by the way." The dragoness continued. Cynder seemed to be still lost for words as she was confronted with a situation she never thought she'd find herself in. Being greeted by someone who didn't think she was a monster other than the Guardians and Spyro.
"I'll take a guess and say that after yesterday you must think that everyone in the city hates you for what Malefor made you do huh?" Suraxis asked, receiving a small, disheartened nod in response.
"Well I doubt it means much coming from just me, but I don't blame you at all for what Malefor did. I've seen firsthand just how powerful he was..." Suraxis offered.
"Really?! Apart from Spyro and The Guardians you're just the about the only one who doesn't, and it actually really means a lot, thanks." Cynder replied quite cheerful with the fact that not everyone blamed her.
"Yeah really. I agree with what Spyro said yesterday, people should be thanking you and him for saving them not forming mobs to try and attack you!" Suraxis scowled, visibly disgusted by even the thought of the mob's actions yesterday. Her scowl cleared a moment later being replaced a look of brief thought.
"Cynder, I was just wondering, if you don't mind could you tell me about what happened with you and Spyro? I mean on your journey to defeat the Dark Master." Suraxis asked.
"I'd be happy to, but I really need to get to this basic combat exam, so I'm not sure I'll have time." Cynder replied, pleasantly surprised by her new friends interest in her adventures with Spyro.
"I'm going to the same exam. Every dragon who is entering the Academy has to take the exam before they can enter and if they fail the basic combat or the basic knowledge tests then they are refused entry."
"Oh ok, well I'll talk about it while we walk there then."
And so the dragoness' began strolling casually towards the arena inside the Academy, traversing the corridors of their quarters then entering the main corridors and eventually the inside of the Academy itself, all the while Cynder re-telling of her adventures with Spyro and Sparx. Just as Cynder reached the beginning of the battle against the lava golem in Warfang, she realised that Suraxis and herself had just reached the corridor that lead to the training arena of the Academy, as shown on the map.
When she entered the room, Cynder was filled with both fear and great anxiety. All around were dragons ranging from her size and age to dragons who looked as small as Spyro was when Cynder had seen him for the first time. There were dragons that may have two parents, and then there were others who may only have one or none at all. How many of them had become orphans, their mothers or fathers made widows and widowers by her orders as general, by her actions, by her own paws?
She was given no time to contemplate what she may have done before she got her answer, in the form of ugly stares and dirty sneers that she was bombarded with the moment she entered. Cynder was about to simply turn tail and walk back to her room before she saw the one person who had never blamed her and was the only reason she was still there in the room.
"Hey Cynder." Spyro greeted as he walked up to her. He turned to face the other young dragons in the room.
"Anyone here feel like staring and glaring?" Spyro asked with a flat voice. The sentence was said as a question but no one in the room missed the underlying threat and, not wanting to invoke the purple dragon's wrath, quickly though some sooner than others, returned to face the dragon who was standing at the front of the room, Terrador. He did not look pleased. His voice sounded like a grindstone on chalk as he spoke.
"If you would all be so kind as to return your attention to the explanation of the combat exams, I would be very much obliged." Growled the green, armour clad Guardian and very soon those who hadn't been turned by the purple dragon's threat soon saw sense enough to return their attention to their soon to be master.
"Thank you, now as I was saying..." Terrador said as he began his explanation anew. Cynder was very grateful for Spyro's appearance and quickly covered the few meters left between them and gave him a grateful and apologetic smile.
"Thanks for that, Spyro. I probably would have just left if you hadn't shown up, as it's fairly obvious that your one of the only two people in this room that doesn't seem to want me dead for what I did." Cynder sighed, nodding to the now attentive crowd of dragons behind Spyro. At this point Suraxis, who had remained silent before then, took over.
"I don't quite know who they think they are, practically forming a mob like that acting as if they have never done wrong in their lives!" She ranted with a sneer on her face "Why don't they try being controlled and forced to fight in a war under a tyrant and see if they carry on sitting on their self-righteous tails with their dirty glares then!"
Spyro's reaction to the sudden rant was an impressed stare before a smile spread across his muzzle, practically jubilant to find someone else who saw sense enough not to blame Cynder for what Malefor did.
"I'm glad to have finally found someone who has some common sense! What's your name?" Spyro asked.
"Her name's is Suraxis; she's a really nice dragoness who came here after the war with Malefor was over. I've just been telling her about our journey to the Dark Master on our way here." Cynder explained.
"Oh cool, are you taking the basic combat exam to Suraxis? It would certainly be nice to have another friendly face around here." Spyro admitted.
"Yes I am. Everyone who is entering the Academy is taking the basic exam, but if they fail then they are refused entry and have to retry the test at a later date. Although I very much doubt you two will have any trouble." Suraxis added with a smile. Just as she finished her sentence, Terrador's voice boomed through the arena calling to everyone there that the first of the basic combat exams was about to begin and that everyone must stand clear of the training circle in the middle. Then the first potential student walked into the centre of the ring, a rather large fire dragon shaking in anticipation of performing in front of not only a Guardian and a legendary purple dragon to boot.
This mixture of excitement, fear and nervousness was what, in all likeliness, caused him to slip up in his third round a few minutes later against 8 small training dummies where a misplaced, heavy strike had lead to the fire user being floored and leapt upon by his opponents, forcing Terrador to finish the exam. The dragon had passed... barley, but he certainly wasn't making it into the intermediate classes any time in the near future. He limped out of the ring; back to his group of friends who gave him hearty pats on the back and cheers for passing.
The next several potentials were at best uninspiring, with some scraping through in the 3rd round just like the first candidate and others outright failing the most basic of the combat tests. But then came one particular dragon's test. Cynder's. Terrador called out her name and several dragons outside the ring visibly flinched and back away from the ring in fear of the name of 'The Terror of the Skies' as they saw her briskly jog to the centre of the ring.
"Are you ready to begin the exam Cynder?" The Guardian asked eyeing the dragons who had backed away from the ring in response to Cynder's reappearance among them. In particular one of the earth dragons looked like he may...
"Yes I am ready Master Terrador." Cynder replied, cutting Terrador's train of thought short of arriving at a conclusion.
"Very well, begin." Terrador stated summoning up the first round in the form of two small, basic dummies. They were in pieces before they had even been able to move as Cynder's claw separated a dummies' torso from its waist, slicing her tail blade across the others throat without even looking. Those who had been considered 'brave' enough to not back away recoiled at the brutal efficiency with which 'The Dark Master's General' had dispatched the two dummies their friends had been struggling with.
The only dragons who had not backed away from the arena were Terrador himself, Spyro, Suraxis whom was standing next to the purple dragon and a black and silver dragon who the earth Guardian recognized as Seathius, who simply seemed intrigued by the entire spectacle
There was only a few seconds of respite before the next round started this time consisting of the same dummies only in a larger quantity of 5. The round had only just started before Terrador could feel something off about the situation and turned a stare to the crowd surrounding the fighting black dragon. Then he saw it. Time appeared to slow down as the earth dragon he had noted earlier raised a forepaw off of the ground before slamming it quickly back down to the earth, launching a spike of jagged rock straight for the already occupied dragoness in the ring. There wasn't even time for a warning before the missile hit, spraying dirt and dust all over the arena.
But when the debris cleared it was made plainly obvious that the earth projectile had not collided with its indented target.
The silver and black dragon standing in front of Cynder lowered his still green glowing forepaw to the ground before stalking over to the dragon that had been bold enough to outright attack Cynder in the first place. When he reached the slightly larger dragon he gave him a glare that made everyone in the room believe that looks really could kill. Then he pressed one of his claws to the other dragon's throat
"I don't suppose you would care to interrupt anyone else's exam would you?" Seathius questioned the attacker with a voice that would make a grown dragon want to run for the hills. He received a rushed, frightened shake of a head as an answer. Seemingly satisfied with the response, Seathius turned on his paws, intentionally spraying dirt in the direction of the offender, and simply walked back to where he had been standing before as if nothing had happened, dragons scattering as he approached.
For a moment there was silence, the shock acting as a muzzle for any sounds that would have been made. Then Terrador broke the silence with a roared command.
"EVERYONE OUT! THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE YET TO TAKE THE EXAM, RETURN HERE AT THE SAME TIME TOMMOROW! Now go!" He ordered before turning to the earth dragon, who still seemed paralysed by fear."That does not apply to you however. It would be wise for you not to return here for a long time!"
The next few minutes consisted of a scramble for the doorway, lead by none other than the terrified and humiliated earth dragon. When the scramble ended, there remained only four dragons in the chamber, who had by Terrador's request formed a group in the centre of the training room.
They all had questions they wanted answered.
This is a quick authors note stating that this will be the last chapter for around two weeks as I have yet to write the next. Sorry about that...